A New Legend
by crazycfm
Summary: Years have passed since Zelda sent Link back in time to relive his childhood. Now, at 35 years old, he lives in Kakariko Village with his 16-year-old daughter, Sapphire. All is good until they find out there's a prince of Hyrule. Not only that, but Ganondorf seems to have broken out of his seal and is plotting to take over Hyrule once more...
1. Chapter 1

*Prologue*

"Come on, you can do it!" The sheikah cheered on the soon-to-be mother. She had been in labor for quite a while, and she was weakening by the second. It was a rushed birth, as well as premature. The unborn child wasn't supposed to arrive until a few weeks later. Loud thunder roared through the night. The mother screamed in pain, worrying her fiancé, who was waiting outside the room. He wasn't allowed in there until the child was born. It was quite funny with how worried he was, for he was a hero who had slain many monsters and sealed away a great and powerful beast.

Finally, after some while, the fiancé heard a baby's cry. He tried to push open the door, but it was locked. A voice sounded from behind him, saying, "I told you to wait in your quarters."

He turned around. "I'm sorry, sire, but I really wanted to be there for her."

"Childbirth is a long and painful process. It's best that it's just her and the sheikah are alone. Go wait in your quarters to be called."

The fiancé sighed and walked to his quarters. He was so filled with worry, though, so it was a fully reluctant retreat. He looked back at his lover's door and whispered, "I love you."

After some while, the sheikah knocked on his door. He opened it, seeing her holding a baby wrapped in a blanket. He looked up at the sheikah with surprise. "I thought-"

"Take her. Take her and go!"

"But-"

"Your daughter is very weak. Take her to Kakariko Village. I have a relative there by the name of Impaz. You need to take your daughter to her before it's too late."

"What happened to-"

"She is dead. Now go! Do not waste any time!" She handed him the baby and pointed towards the main entrance of the castle. "Whatever you do, do not return!"

He nodded, tears in his eyes, and ran. He ran to the stables and got on his trusty horse, who was with him in his adventures during the hard times with the powerful beast. Then they rode off towards Kakariko Village.

*Chapter 1*

CRASH!

Oops. That wasn't supposed to fall.

"Sapphire, what is going on in there?" Impaz, my caretaker, called from the kitchen. I quickly picked the picture that fell and hit a vase up and put it back on the wall.

"N-nothing, Impaz! Everything is perfectly fine!" I quickly picked up the pieces of the broken vase and dumped them out the window, where every other broken object ended up...because of me.

"I swear, if you were in there sword playing again..." I never heard the rest of her sentence. I quickly escaped out of the back door to avoid another lecture. I ran across the village and to my father's workshop, where he welded swords and trained some of the villagers. It was an old barn that had been sitting there for ages before he got a hold of it. I snuck around to the back and climbed the ladder to the loft. There was an amazing view of Hyrule Field up here. But I wasn't here to look at the view.

I crawled around in the tiny loft space and found the rope I was looking for. I slowly slid down it and landed on the second story. From there, I looked for my father, who was welding a sword together. I honestly had no idea what he was going to do with them. The swords he had already welded were hanging up on a wall.

Then I quietly walked over to near where he was. As I prepared to surprise him, a board creaked. I froze, praying he wouldn't hear it.

He didn't even look up from the sword he was working on. "Sapphire, if you want to be able to sneak up on me, you have to do a better job than that."

I silently cursed at myself. "Father, if I want to be able to sneak up on you, you should have worse hearing."

"Link! Link!" Impaz called out.

I quickly hid behind some hay that was just randomly up here.

"Yes, Impaz?"

"Have you seen Sapphire? She's run off again."

"No, but I'm sure she's fine. There's nothing to worry about."

"That's what you always say. But if she's not back by the time supper is ready, I'll have her this time."

"Alright, now calm down. If I see her, I'll tell her."

"And tell her to quit sword playing in the house! She's just like you with that sword of hers. She's going to destroy that house before she gets one of her own."

"Like father, like daughter."

"Actually, the saying is-"

"I know what the saying is, Impaz." Father's tone suddenly went from relaxed to harsh.

Impaz flinched slightly. "I know, I know. Well, I'm going to finish cooking supper." She left the old barn and went back to our house.

Father glanced up at the hay I was hiding behind. "Alright, Sapphire, you can come out now." He looked back at the sword and continued working on it. I sighed and climbed down the nearest ladder. "Impaz is right, you know. You do need to quit sword playing in the house."

"But I'm not hurting anything." I plopped down in a chair beside him.

"What about those broken objects that keep piling up outside the dining room window?"

"Um..." Darn. I thought those would stay hidden. Now I'm probably in trouble.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble. But you probably do need to work on your aim." Without warning, there was suddenly a sword pointing at my face. I smirked and ran over to the sword wall and grabbed one.

"I thought you said my aim was good?" I swung at him. He quickly blocked it and smirked. "Not if you keep breaking objects in the house."

We played around with the swords for a while before Impaz called out for supper. We put them up and walked out the barn and to the house. I walked inside and the mouthwatering smell of rabbit stew hit me. I smiled and sat down at the table in my usual spot. Impaz brought out Father's and my bowl before going to retrieve her own.

"Thank you, Impaz, this is really good." I said before scooping up some stew. Father nodded in agreement.

After we finished our supper, I collected everyone's dishes and went to go wash them, deciding to give Impaz a break. I quickly got the dishes washed and walked back into the dining room. Father and Impaz were having a conversation, but stopped when I sat down. I gave them a questioning look before shrugging. I glanced at Father, then smiled.

"Hey, Father, could you tell another story about your adventuring days?"

Father grinned. "You're getting ready to turn sixteen tomorrow, yet you still want to hear those stories?"

I nodded vigorously. "They are always enchanting! I love them!"

Impaz rolled her eyes. "Dear child, it seems like you never grow up. Anyway, I'm going to go ahead and turn in. I'm quite tired." She stood up.

"Aww, Impaz, it's barely dark outside." I made a pouty face.

"Like I said, I'm quite tired." With that, she left.

"Why does she always go to bed so early?"

Father sighed. "She's getting quite old, Sapphire. Let her be."

I huffed. "Fine."

"Didn't you want to hear a story?"

I perked up immediately. "Yes!"

"Which one?"

I didn't take too long to think about it. "I want to hear the one where you rescued the princess!"

"You always want to hear that one."

"I know! It's an exciting one, where you fight Ganondorf and save the princess from peril!"

"Alright, alright." Father told me the story. I always found it very exciting, no matter how many times I have heard it. The dark castle, the crystal cage, the collapsing of the tower, and how Ganondorf turned into a giant beast; it all added up to a wonderful story. It never got boring.

When he finished telling the story, I smiled. "That is such a wonderful story, Father. But, I believe I have never asked what the princess's name was, or what happened to the master sword after the princess sent you back in time."

"Really now?"

"Really. What was her name?"

"Zelda."

Princess Zelda...sounds familiar. "Is she our queen now?"

Father shrugged. "I haven't heard anything about the royal family since."

"Since when?"

"Since I was sent back in time." He looked away. I tilted my head. Thinking that he was probably thinking about something that was probably none of my business, I just shrugged.

"So, what happened to the master sword?"

"It's locked away in the Temple of Time, where it belongs."

"What about your fairy companion, Navi? I think that's her name..."

"Yes, her name is Navi, and she disappeared when I went back in time. I have no idea where she went, but I suppose it was for a reason that she disappeared."

"Oh." I yawned.

"Looks like someone's getting tired."

"Nu-huh." I wasn't the least bit tired. I just yawned, that's all. But I guess my eyelids told me different, for they were starting to droop.

"Yeah, not tired at all." Father chuckled. "Come on, let's go to bed."

I nodded and stood up. I walked to my small room and quickly put on a nightgown. Before I had a chance to crawl into bed, I heard a knock on my bedroom window. I went over to it and saw one of my best friends, Rico. I smiled. "What are you doing here?"

He smiled. "It's your birthday tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah."

Rico held up a small present. "Well, I wanted to go ahead and give this to you a bit early. I thought if I gave it to you in front of Bethany, she might go back to the assumption that we were dating again."

I took the present and said thank you. "Yeah, Bethany probably still thinks that even if we don't act like it. Besides, she knows we wouldn't date. It would be too awkward."

I don't know if it was just me or the fact that it was dark, but it looked like Rico's smile faltered slightly. "Yeah, I guess it would be. Well, I hope you like your present." With that, he ran off.

I opened up the box and gasped. It was a necklace with a blue sapphire attached to it. The blue sapphire was shaped like a teardrop. I smiled. I went over to my small makeshift mirror and held up the necklace beside my neck. The sapphire on the necklace matched the color of my eyes. I gently put the necklace back in the box and set it on my desk. I would be sure to wear it tomorrow.

I finally got to crawl into bed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Sapphire, wake up! I'm not going to tell you again!" Father said.

I moaned, not wanting to wake up. I was still sleepy. I didn't get a very good rest last night.

"Unless you want to stay home all day and not visit Castle Town..."

I shot straight up. "Castle Town? Are we going to Castle Town?"

Father smirked. "Happy birthday, Sapphire."

"We're going to Castle Town!" I have never been there before, but I've always wanted to visit it. Rico and Bethany have been there before, but only because their parents were merchants. Father has been there before, but not in a long time.

He smiled at me. "Well, you better get dressed. Impaz is making breakfast, and she's almost done." With that, he left the room.

I walked to my closet and looked at the two of my better dresses. I decided on a purple and white one. I haven't worn it yet, even though I got it a year ago from Impaz on my fifteenth birthday. I decided right now would be the best time to wear it.

I quickly slipped it on. The dress fitted me perfectly. The top part was purple, and the skirt of the dress was white with a gold stripe at the bottom. The dress felt silky on the inside, too. I twirled in it. I felt like a princess while wearing it. I looked into my small makeshift mirror. I wondered what I could do with my long blonde hair. I decided to braid it and have a few strands of shorter hair hang on the sides of my face. My long hylian ears stuck out with this hairstyle, but I just shrugged it off. Then, I put on the necklace Rico gave me last night.

"Sapphire, your breakfast is getting cold!" Impaz called out. I quickly put on some long socks and my boots before running out into the dining room. When I arrived in there, Father and Impaz stared at me like I had grown seven arms and five legs. I gave them a curious glance.

Impaz smiled. "You look really beautiful in that dress, darling. I'm glad you finally decided to wear it."

"Thank you, Impaz. And this is a really wonderful dress, thank you for getting it for me on my last birthday." I sat down and glanced at Father. He looked lost in thought. "Father?" His eyes snapped to me.

"Huh?"

"Are you alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Hurry up and eat so we can get going!" I nodded and practically gulfed down my breakfast, which was sausage and scrambled eggs. I then stood up and washed out my dish before going back to the dining room.

"Before we go, can I talk to Bethany and Rico for a moment?"

Father nodded. "Just be quick about it. We don't want to head out too late."

I smiled and ran out the door. I quickly ran over to Bethany's house first. I knocked on the door and Bethany's mother opened it.

"Oh, hello Sapphire! Are you here to see Bethany?"

"Yes, is she here?"

"She is probably still sleeping. You can go wake her up, if you like."

"No, I'll let her sleep. Could you tell her that I won't be home today? Father's taking me to Castle Town today for my birthday!"

Bethany's mother smiled. "I'll be sure to tell her. You have fun now, you hear? And happy birthday!"

"Thank you and I will." With that, I left and ran over to Rico's house. I knocked on the door and it was Rico who answered it. He smiled when he realized it was me.

"Hey, Rico!"

"Hey. What brings you over here so early?"

"I wanted to let you know that I wasn't going to be home today."

Rico looked shocked. "Where are you going?"

"Father's taking me to Castle Town for my birthday!"

He smiled. "Wow, it's about time you get to go! You are going to have lots of fun."

"I know! Oh, by the way, thanks for the necklace. It's really beautiful."

Rico blushed. "It was nothing, just a present."

"But I like it. I'm wearing it right now; it just fell under the hem of the dress." I pulled it out.

He smiled wider. "Well, I'm glad you like it."

"Sapphire! It's time to go!" Father called from the house.

"Coming! I have to go. I'll see you later, alright?"

He nodded. "Have fun, Sapphire."

"Thanks, I will!" I ran off back to my house. Father was waiting outside. He had changed into a nicer green tunic instead of wearing the dusty old yellow one he usually has on. I smiled. "I'm ready to go." He nodded, and then looked confused. "Where did you get that necklace?"

"Oh, Rico gave it to me."

"Alright. Well, let's go!" We walked off to the stables to get our horses, then set off towards Castle Town. It took about thirty minutes before we saw the gates. I smiled. We arrived in front of the gates and Father jumped off his horse. I did the same and followed him to some stables. A small boy took our horses and Father gave him twenty rupees. I could hear loud music from here. It made me feel really excited.

"You ready?" Father asked from behind me. I turned around and nodded vigorously. "Then let's go!" He left the stables with me following him. When we arrived into the actual city, my jaw dropped. There were tall buildings, lots of street venders, and many people running around. There were troubadours (aka traveling musicians) along the streets, along with street performers (jugglers, magicians, etc.). It was an amazing sight. I glanced at Father. He actually looked concerned.

"What's wrong, Father?"

He glanced at me. "Oh, nothing, it's just busier than I remember."

We walked further into the town and ended up in Castle Town Square, according to the sign. There were decorations everywhere. This was weird. It wasn't a holiday. So why were there decorations?

"There must be some kind of festival going on. That's why it seemed busier than what I remember."

I smiled. "Well they made perfect timing for the festival!" I giggled. "But what festival is it?"

Father shrugged. "I'll go find out. Wait here." Father walked off to ask someone about the festival. While waiting for him, I looked at a shop window. There were lots of shiny objects. They were really pretty. I looked at the price tag on them, which made my jaw drop. Ten thousand rupees? What kind of price was that? Two-thirds of my village's savings can't even add up to that amount.

Father returned, looking kind of pale. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's not a festival; it's a birthday party. Apparently, there's a prince that Kakariko Village didn't know about. Today is his birthday."

"I share birthdays with a prince?" This was news. And, also, according to Father, my village had no clue about this prince, either.

"Not only that...but he's turning sixteen, also."

"So not only do we share birthdays, but we're turning the same age? That's weird. But still pretty cool at the same time."

"I'm just curious to as of why I was never informed of this." Father muttered under his breath, but not soft enough.

"What do you mean, 'I'?"

Father glanced at me with an alarmed look. "Did I say I? I...I meant the village."

"Sure. Come on, let's go explore!" I ran over to man ringing a bell saying, "Win a prize! Come on, don't be a wimp, come try!"

I smiled. "I'll try. What do you have to do?"

The man smiled back. "Get all three rings around the bottle. You look like you have a good arm, go ahead." He handed me the three rings. I got all of them around the bottle with ease. The man looked shocked. "Well...then. Here's your prize!" He handed me ten rupees.

"Thank you!" I smiled again and looked around for Father. He was actually waiting for me. I walked over to him. "I won ten rupees at a game!"

"So I see." He smiled. All of the sudden, a loud brassy sound came from nowhere. It almost sounded like a cornet. All of the townspeople immediately turned to one direction and bowed. Father did the same. I just simply looked confused.

"Bow. The royal family is coming out." Father glanced slightly at me. I did as I was told, and right on time to. I heard horses pulling a carriage.

"All may rise." A deep voice bellowed out. I stood back up. There was a soldier driving the carriage. He suddenly shouted out, "Ladies and gentlemen, please acknowledge the arrival of King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule and his grandson, Prince Liam Gregson Hyrule."

All around me, there was applaud. I decided to just go with the flow and applaud too. Father was doing the same, though he looked quite tense. I just shrugged it off and watched the king and prince step out of the carriage. The king was kind of heavyset, but quite tall. His black hair and beard had streaks of grey. Then the prince walked out. I gasped when I laid eyes on him. He looked shockingly familiar; he had shaggy blonde hair and light blue eyes.

I couldn't help but stare. He looked so familiar...have I seen him before? Then he suddenly looked at me. I blinked. Did he realize I was staring at him? He just rolled his eyes like it was nothing new. I looked away, and then looked at Father. He was looking at everything else but the king and prince. This was very strange. He had actually been acting kind of strange since we arrived. I tapped his shoulder. He looked at me. "What is it?"

"Are you alright?"

Father nodded. "Yeah. Hey, let's come back another day. It's too crowded right now."

"But, Father, wouldn't it be rude if we just walked out on the prince's birthday party? I'm sure it will be lots of fun!"

"It will still be lots of fun when we come on another day."

Suddenly, it grew very quiet. Nobody was applauding for the royal family anymore. The king had his hand held up. Then he looked directly at me and Father and walked towards us.


	3. Chapter 3

I was staring right at the king. He was walking towards us! I heard Father mutter, "Why did we stand in the front?" I glanced at him questioningly, but before I got to ask him what he meant, the king stopped right in front of us. Also, the prince was right behind him. The king stared me down, then finally spoke.

"Where did you get Princess Zelda's dress?"

I couldn't speak. I was in shock. First off, the king of Hyrule was speaking to me, and second off, this was Princess Zelda's dress?

"Answer me!"

"It was given to me by my caretaker. I swear, I had no idea it belonged to the princess!"

The king looked furious. "Well, hand it over! It doesn't belong to you!" He reached his hand out to grab me when suddenly, I was jerked to the side. Father had grabbed hold of me and held me protectively. "Don't you dare touch her."

The king gasped. "L-Link? Is that you?"

I froze. Did Father know the king? How did the king know Father? I was confused. What was going on?

I felt Father tense up. Suddenly, the prince spoke up. "Grandfather, why are we meddling with these peasants? Shouldn't we be doing something more...royal?" He looked quite annoyed.

Wow. Rude much?

The king turned to face the prince. "Prince Liam, I will not hear such disrespectful words about your people. If you have nothing good to say, then go back to the carriage and wait for me."

With that, the prince rolled his eyes, then turned around and walked back to the carriage.

"Please excuse him. He's always had a...bad attitude. Now, back to business, is that really you, Link?"

I was suddenly aware that everyone was staring at us. Couldn't they just go mind their own business?

Father suddenly spoke. "What do you want, your highness?"

The king smiled. "I thought it was you. Where have you been for the past sixteen years?"

I glanced at Father. "What is he talking about? I thought you haven't been to the castile since you de-"

Father glanced down at me. "Hush, Sapphire. Why don't you go explore some more?"

I shook my head. "I want to know what's going on!"

The king spoke. "You mean she doesn't know?"

"Doesn't know what? Father, what is he talking about?"

"Wait; did you just call him...father?" The king looked really confused. "I...I thought..."

Father sighed. "Yes, she is my daughter. Does this surprise you?"

"Yes, actually, it does. I thought that-"

"You thought wrong. Now, if you will excuse me, we will be heading home." Father turned around and I followed. I didn't try to argue this time, either. Something very weird was going on, and I really wanted to find out. But I think it would have to wait 'till we got home.

"You do know what this means, right Link?" The king called out.

Father stopped and glanced behind him with a glare, grabbed my shoulder, then kept walking. We walked to the stables and got our horses, then rode back to Kakariko Village. Impaz was outside picking vegetables from the crops when she saw us enter the village. She met us at the stables. "Back so soon?"

Father nodded tensely. "Yes. We had a little run-in with the king."

"Well, what happened?"

"Impaz, where did you get Sapphire's dress again?"

"Castle Town, I swear!" Impaz looked worried. "What happened, Link?"

I tied up the horses as Father responded a very strange statement.

"He found out."

Impaz sighed. "It was bound to happen sooner or later, you know. I tried to warn you, but you never listen."

I thought maybe they didn't realize I was still standing here. I never heard them talk about something like this before.

Father ran his hand through his blonde hair, pulling his bangs back. He let out a breath. "What is going to happen now?"

"Well, now that they know that she's alive, they might send for her."

Who might send for whom? I was confused. This time, I decided to speak up. "What are you all talking about?"

Father glanced over to me with a surprised look. "Sapphire, why are you still in here? Go find Rico or something."

"What's going on? I don't like secrets."

Father sighed and shook his head. He walked out of the stables. Impaz glanced at me. "I'm pretty sure he'll tell you when he's ready, dear."

"Can't you tell me, Impaz?"

"It's not my duty to. Just be patient." She walked out of the stables also.

I growled. What was with all these secrets lately? I walked out of the stables and sighed. I walked around the village, trying to calm down.

"Sapphire!"

I turned around and saw Bethany running towards me. Her curly red hair was bouncing with each step.

"Hey! I thought you went to Castle Town?"

"I did. But Father made us come back early."

"Why?"

I told her what happened, with the birthday and the king. When I finished, she looked confused. "Um...what?"

I shook my head. "In other words, there is some kind of secret floating around and I want to know what it is! Father acted strange the whole time we were in Castle Town and the king knew him!"

"Oh, I get it now!" Bethany smiled.

"Took you long enough," I muttered.

"Hey, where did you get that dress? It's pretty!"

I looked down at my dress. "I forgot to change out of it after coming home...Anyway, Impaz got it for me on my last birthday, and I never really had an opportunity to wear it until today. I need to go change out of it. It's too nice to just wear it around the village." I waved my hand bye to Bethany and hurried over to my house. I walked through the door and headed to my room to change into an old dark green dress. I undid the braid and let my hair down. I quickly brushed it and headed back out. Right before I opened the front door to go back outside, I heard some talking from the kitchen. I quietly tiptoed towards the kitchen door to listen. What? I'm a little bit nosey, okay?

I heard Impaz's voice. She was talking about some recipe. Feeling slightly disappointed that I didn't get a chance to listen to anything important *coughtaboutmecough*, I quickly went back outside.

I walked over to the barn where Father made swords, hoping he was there. He was, but he wasn't working on a sword. He was sitting in a chair, holding what looked like a pictograph. I walked over to him. He looked up and quickly flipped the pictograph over.

"What do you need, Sapphire?"

I shrugged.

"Then run along, go find Rico or something."

I just stood there as Father looked back at the pictograph. Then I suddenly thought of something.

"How come the king knew who you were?"

"I'm the hero of time, remember? The whole royal family knows who I am," Father said matter-of-factly.

Hmm...true. "Well...then what did he mean when he yelled 'you know what this means'?"

Father didn't respond immediately. He just took in a huge breath then slowly let it out. "I don't know."

He's lying. I know he is. I can just tell he's not telling me something. But I didn't say anything. I just tilted my head slightly and gave him a look. "Father, you pretty much gave him a death glare."

He just shook his head. "Seriously, go run along."

"Not until you tell me what's going on!"

He gave me a look. "Sapphire..." he growled.

Okay, time to go. He means business. I sighed. "Sorry to bother you." I turned around and left. I decided to do what Father suggested and go find Rico. When I was a few yards away from his house, I heard Rico yelling from inside.

"I don't care, Pa! I won't marry her!" As soon as he said that, he stormed out of his front door and stormed down the steps. I stood there, frozen, wondering what was going on. Rico glanced at me quickly before running away in the direction of the graveyard.


	4. Chapter 4

I quietly followed Rico to the graveyard to see if he was alright. I mean, he looked pretty ticked off if you ask me. I stayed a little behind him so he wouldn't realize that I was following him. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like I had to, even though I wanted to ask him what was wrong.

Rico entered the graveyard and stopped. He turned his head and looked at me. "You know, you're not very quiet when you're trying to follow somebody."

I sighed. "I know." I walked up beside him.

"Why are you back so early? I thought you would spend all day in Castle Town." He started to walk around the graveyard. I walked beside him.

"So did I, but apparently Father didn't want to." I quickly told him what happened with the king talking to Father. Rico just nodded. "Interesting."

I suddenly thought of something. I had told Bethany about me sharing birthdays with the prince, and she didn't even react. But when Father and I discovered there was even a prince, we were both surprised. So I decided to test out something. "Oh, and did you know that I share birthdays with the prince?"

He gave me a curious look. "You mean you didn't know that?"

I stared at Rico. "No...I didn't. Why didn't you ever mention it before?"

"I thought you would have known that by now at least."

"Well...how do you know this?"

"The whole kingdom of Hyrule knew when Prince Liam was born, Sapphire. His birth was announced in each village the day after since he was born in the early hours of the night. But, anyway, you and your pa came to the village the night before they announced it. You were a sickly baby, from what I can remember. If it weren't for Impaz, you would probably be dead."

"Wait...do you mean I wasn't born here?" I knew Rico was a few years older than me, so it doesn't surprise me that he remembers when I was a baby, but I had always assumed I was born here.

Rico shook his head. "No. You didn't know that either?"

"There are a lot of things I don't know, I guess. Father hardly ever talks about me, well, about my past anyway."

"What do you mean, your past?"

"As in how I got to be here, I guess. I don't know my heritage or any living relatives. I don't even know who my own mother is."

"Really? Well...that's strange that you don't really know anything about yourself. Do you know at least why you don't know your mother?"

I thought about that. I never heard Father mention anything about my mother before. So honestly..."No, I don't really know anything about her."

"Have you ever asked about her?"

"Hmm...good point. I might do that later." I wasn't joking. This might help me figure out some holes in my life right now.

Rico smirked at sat down on the grass. A nice fall breeze flew across the graveyard as I sat down beside him, my dress flaring out in the process.

"Green looks nice on you."

I felt my face heat up slightly at Rico's compliment. "Thanks." I suddenly remembered why I followed him here in the first place. "So...why were you yelling at your father?"

"Um..." Rico shrugged. He looked away and stared at the ground.

I nudged him. "Come on, you can tell me."

"I really don't want to talk about it."

I sighed. "Fine. I'll just get straight to the point. Who is he making you marry?"

Rico let out a long breath. "Do you really actually care about that?"

"I just want to know what's troubling my best friend," I said matter-of-factly.

"Fine. Pa's done arranged a marriage between me and Bethany."

"Really? Then why are you so upset about it?" I personally have always thought they would make a good couple, despite Bethany's rants on me and Rico making a good couple. Me dating Rico? Yeah, right.

"I don't want to marry someone I know I won't love. I don't even like Bethany like that." He sighed. "I like her as a friend, and just that. Imagine trying to marry someone you only think as a friend. Difficult, right?"

I nodded. "Yep."

We just sat there in silence for a while. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise coming from the village. I turned my head towards the graveyard entrance, wondering what in the world that noise was. Rico apparently heard it to, for he stood up. "What was that?"

I shrugged. I stood up too and followed Rico out of the graveyard. When we walked back into the village, there were horses pulling a carriage that looked awfully familiar. I saw Father walk out of the barn wiping his hands with an old cloth. When he laid his eyes on the carriage, he dropped the cloth and ran into our house.

*Link's P.O.V.*

I heard some horses coming into the village. Wondering who could be returning or visiting, I put down the sword I was making and grabbed an old cloth to wipe my dirty hands. The horses neighed loudly and it sounded like it kicked something. I walked out of the barn where I make my swords and dropped the cloth.

No.

I ran to my house, which was across from the barn, and shouted for Sapphire. Instead, I saw Impaz looking at me like I had gone mad.

"Impaz, where's Sapphire?"

"I don't know. If I had to guess, she's probably around Rico or Bethany. What's the hurry?"

"The king...he's here."

*Back to Sapphire's P.O.V.*

Father came back out of the house and looked around. Wondering what could cause him to look around like that, I shouted for him. Rico suddenly spoke.

"That's the king's carriage."

I glanced at him, then at the carriage. No wonder it looked familiar! I saw it today at Castle Town.

Father ran up to me after I had called for him. His eyes were full of worry.

"Are you alright?" I asked him. Before I could get an answer, the king had stepped out of the carriage with the prince following. Everyone immediately bowed down. I did too, but something didn't feel right.

"All may rise," the king spoke. Everyone stood up and waited for the king to speak again. But, instead of doing that, the king just looked around. When his eyes fell onto where Rico, Father, and I were standing, he smiled.

"People of Kakariko, today is Prince Liam's sixteenth birthday. Also, today is the day where he sees what he will be ruling over in a few years. We have already seen all of Hyrule Field, Kokiri Forest, Zora's Domain, Lon Lon Ranch, Gerudo Valley, and Death Mountain. We saved this village for last, since this a special place for the royal family. We would also like to rest here for the rest of the evening before going back to the castle. Does anyone have an objection?" He waited for anyone to speak up, but no one did. "Good." The king smiled again. "Alright. You may go back to whatever you were doing."

"Hey, I have an idea!" A random voice spoke up. Everyone turned to Ollie, our village leader. "Let's throw a celebration for the prince's birthday!"

"Yeah, why not? We haven't had a reason to celebrate in a while," someone said in response to Ollie.

"Wait! Why not a double celebration? It's Sapphire's birthday, too!" Bethany's mother shouted out.

"Yeah!" Most of the village cheered out.

About two hours later, the stars were starting to come out. The village's musicians were beating on drums and playing ocarinas with a happy tune. Even the strange windmill man had come out and was playing his music box. The whole village was either dancing, enjoying a meal, chatting, laughing, or trying to introduce themselves to the king or wishing the prince a happy birthday. Right now, I was sitting on my porch, watching everyone. Father had gone inside before the celebration even started. Speaking of Father, he didn't look too happy when the village even decided to celebrate. He looked more worried than angry, but still. Bethany's mother and Impaz were busy cooking the food for the celebration. It seemed like people ate it faster than they could finish cooking it.

A few people have passed me and wished me a happy birthday. I thanked them in response. Some people have asked me why I wasn't celebrating. I just simply said I was tired. Truth was, though, I had too much on my mind to celebrate. One thing was what Rico was talking about earlier in the graveyard, another thing was the fact that Father seemed angry and worried about the celebration, and the final thing was that prince. He looked so familiar. I feel like I know him from somewhere, but I never knew him before considering I didn't know there was even a prince until today. I sighed. Suddenly, Bethany appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey, Sapphire, don't you want to come with me to talk to the prince?"

I glanced up at her. "Why?"

"One, because it's his birthday, and two, because what if me talking to him caused a chain reaction and one day he could like me?"

I rolled my eyes. "You really think talking to a prince will make him like you one day?"

She nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Please, please, please come with me?"

"Why don't you want to go by yourself?"

"I don't know. It just feels better to be accompanied. Please, Sapphire, pleeeaaassee?"

I sighed and stood up. "Fine." I followed Bethany towards the prince. When we got there, he was staring at his hand. He quickly looked up and covered it when he saw Bethany and I standing right in front of him.

"Hi." Bethany smiled. "Happy birthday, Prince Liam."

Prince Liam shrugged. "Thanks."

She held out her hand. "I'm Bethany."

He slowly grabbed her hand and shook it. As he was doing that, I saw something that was on the hand he was covering. I gasped, immediately recognizing the shape, for Father had drawn it before and explained to me what it was. The prince glanced at me with a questioning look. I pointed at his hand. He immediately covered it again with an alarmed look.

"What? I missed it!" Bethany glanced at me. "What was it?"

"He...you...You bear the Triforce!"


	5. Chapter 5

Prince Liam glared at me. "What's it to you?"

Bethany gasped when she finally figured it out. I didn't reply to the prince. I just stared at him in shock. The stories of the Triforce Father had told me went through my mind. He once told me that when a hero wasn't needed anymore, two of the Triforce pieces fell back into a slumber, only to wake again when an era of chaos was about to erupt. Those two pieces were the Triforce of Wisdom and the Triforce of Courage. Ganondorf, for some reason, still held on to the Triforce of Power, so that piece has been awakened for a long while. So...since one of the Triforce pieces has already awakened itself within Prince Liam...then that means that the other Triforce piece has to awaken within someone else and that also means that an era of chaos is about to erupt very, very soon.

Bethany nudged me. She whispered in my ear, "Take a pictograph, it lasts longer." I snapped out of my thoughts and glanced at her. "I wasn't staring." I retorted. I heard the prince cough. "So, yeah. Have fun." I quickly ran off.

"Where are you going?" Bethany called out.

"I forgot I had to help Impaz with something!" I quickly shouted back the lie to her and ran to my house. I busted through the door and looked for Father. I found him sitting at the table drinking something and reading a book. He looked up at me and saw my alarmed face.

"What is it, Sapphire?" He took a sip of his drink.

I sat down. "The prince has a piece of the Triforce."

Father sputtered the drink back into his cup and set it down rather loudly. "What!?"

I nodded. "It's true. I saw it with my own eyes."

"Do you know which one?"

I shook my head.

Father closed the book he was reading. His blue eyes filled with alarm and worry. "Ganondorf must have broken out of the seal."

"How? I thought you said his seal was strong."

"It was. It must have weakened earlier than expected. Unless..."

"Unless...?"

"He must have found a way to attack the sages." Father seemed lost in thought. I had no idea what to think. If Ganondorf has broken out of his seal, and based on the stories Father had told me about his seven year reign, then Hyrule is going to fall under a horrible time.

"Who do you think might be the other holder of the last Triforce piece?"

Father glanced at me. "It could be anyone. There's no way to really tell who until that person has been bestowed with that power."

*Prince Liam's P.O.V.*

"So, what's it like living in the castle?" The red-haired girl kept talking to me and asking me questions. Brittany, Bethany, Barbra, or whatever her name is. The point is that right now she's getting on my nerves. It surprises me that she wasn't like her blonde-haired friend and freaking over the fact that I have a piece of the Triforce. It was like this B-something-girl had suddenly forgotten about it. But another thing...how could I be so stupid to even shake this girl's hand? I thought that I could be subtle about it and that they wouldn't notice it, but the blonde girl did. Ugh! This wouldn't have happened if Grandfather never insisted that we travel Hyrule today on my sixteenth birthday. It actually came on as a surprise, too. I had no idea until after a quick celebration in the town.

Speaking of the devil...

"Liam, what are you doing?"

I glanced over from where the voice came from. Grandfather was giving me a questioning look.

I rolled my eyes and turned my head back to the girl standing in front of me. "What does it look like?" I rested my head on my left hand, then immediately covered my right hand again. I didn't want Grandfather interrogating me about this stupid mark on my hand. Why did I call it stupid? Because, I don't want to be blessed with something I have no clue how to control. It's like trying to carry a giant bag full of rocks and finding a path up a steep mountain where you could easily slip. In other words, there's no point in having it.

"Well, come. Say goodbye to your new girlfriend. We need to find someone with enough hospitality for us to stay with for the night."

I glared at him. "She's not my girlfriend, and all you have to do is just go up to one of these peasants and they'll offer you their whole entire house."

I heard the girl gasp. "Peasants? Peasants!? How dare you insult the people of this village!" She stormed off. Well, it's about time.

"Now, now, Liam, that wasn't a nice thing to say," Grandfather scolded.

I shrugged. "I don't care."

Grandfather stood in front of me. "Come now. We need to find a place to sleep. It's getting late, and it would be morning before we reached the castle if we left now."

"We can sleep in the carriage."

"Trust me, the beds will be more comfortable than the carriage."

I sighed, giving up. I quickly shoved my hands into my pockets and stood up out of the chair I was sitting in. Grandfather immediately headed towards a smaller house that sat right across from a giant barn. Right beside the house, there was a small set of stairs leading up to a well, and right above that, there was a windmill that was slowly spinning.

Grandfather knocked on the door of the house. I heard light footsteps on the other side. The door opened and I saw the blonde girl from earlier. She eyed us suspiciously for a moment, then asked, "How may I help you, your highnesses?"

"Hello, dear. We are looking for a place to stay for the night."

"Um...please hold on a moment." She turned around and entered a different room. After a few seconds, she came back with an older man following her. The two looked really alike; both had blonde hair and blue eyes with similar facial features. Father and daughter, maybe?

The man spoke. "Yes?"

Grandfather smiled. No, more like smirked. "We're looking for a place to stay for the night."

The man gave us a suspicious look. "Sorry, we don't have enough beds. I guess you'll have to find somewhere else." He started to shut the door, but Grandfather stopped it from closing. "I'm sure you can make room."

"We seriously don't have any."

"You seriously can make room."

Okay, what is with this? I rolled my eyes. "Grandfather, if they don't have room, then let's just look for another place."

"Liam, I have this. Be quiet."

Humph. Well then.

The man just gave us looks. He seemed determined not to let us in. The blonde girl was standing behind him with a confused look on her face. Suddenly, Grandfather gave a slight chuckle.

"You have always been a determined lad, haven't you, Link?"

Whoa, whoa, what? Does Grandfather know this man? And that name...Link...it sounds awfully familiar.

"What is going on over here?" A voice behind us sounded. I turned around and saw a rather short, somewhat middle aged lady with graying light brown hair standing behind us. Grandfather explained what he was doing here, and her eyes lit up. "Well, Link, open up the door! We have royal guests!" Link opened up the door with a slightly scowled expression on his face and stepped aside. I followed Grandfather inside. The house was a little cozy. The room that we immediately walked into had a bookshelf and a few chairs. There was a door to the left of us and in the wall directly in front of us. The older lady stopped at the door in front of us. "I'll go prepare a few cots that we have for you. I'm sorry if they're uncomfortable."

"Sapphire, why don't you go help Impaz?" Link said. The blonde girl, I guess her name is Sapphire, nodded and followed Impaz, I think that's the older woman's name.

Then, Link's facial expression hardened when they left the room completely. He gave Grandfather a glare. "I know you aren't here to just stay the night. What is it that you really want?"


	6. Chapter 6

*Still in Liam's P.O.V.*

Grandfather chuckled again. I looked at Link with a bewildered look. How dare he accuse us of that! Why else would we be knocking on this man's door? Then Grandfather's face grew serious. "You have some explaining to do."

Link gave an angry look. He said in a low voice, "I have some explaining to do? It's more like someone hasn't told me anything that would've been nice to know. And if you want to talk about it, I'm not going to talk about it here."

"So, what I had said earlier, about that she doesn't know, she doesn't really know, does she?"

Link hesitated, and sighed. "No. Like I said, if you want to talk about it, I'll be outside." With that, he walked out. I glanced at Grandfather with an extremely confused look. He just smiled. "You will be told what's going on when the timing is right." He walked out the door, apparently to go talk to Link. I was dying to know what was going on, but I'm not really that nosy. If they want me to know, they will tell me.

I sat down in a chair and stared at the bookshelf. There were books mainly on the history of Hyrule, and some were just simple story books. Does this mean that villagers can read? I scowled. There's no way. They don't even have school.

The blonde girl from earlier walked back into the room. She gave me a curious look. "Where are the king and my father?"

I shrugged. "They're out talking somewhere."

"Where?"

"Does it look like I know?" I retorted spitefully.

She flinched, and then gave me a look. "Well, you don't have to be rude. After all, we're giving you a place to stay the night."

"Whatever." I just simply rolled my eyes. This time, I decided to give the girl a good look-over. As I had thought before, she did look like her father. Her eyes were darker than Link's, though. Link's were more of a lighter blue, but hers...they were more like sapphires. I lowered my eyes. She had a nice bodily figure. Not to mention that green looked good on her.

"Is there any particular reason to as of why you are staring at me?"

I snapped my eyes back to hers. "I wasn't."

"Mhm. Sure." She suddenly walked towards the door. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to find out what they're talking about."

"Why? Nosey much?"

She turned her back to me. "So what if I am?" She reached for the doorknob.

"What if they don't want you to know what you're talking about?"

She froze. She lowered her hand from the doorknob and sighed. "Way to ruin the nosey mood." She opened the door and walked out.

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

Ugh! That prince! I was all set to go eavesdrop on them! Then he had to make me realize how wrong it was and make me feel guilty about it. The only times that I ever get nosey is when I know people are out talking and I can easily listen without getting caught. If I walk into someone talking, then they stop, I don't get nosey, but this time, I was ready to listen to them. But, no.

I walked across to the barn and climbed up the ladder in the back. I sat down when I got in the loft and stared at the moonlit view of Hyrule Field, trying to get him off of my mind. It didn't work, though. He annoyed me too much. And, gosh, did he seem so familiar! I swear I know him from somewhere. But...where? He's a prince. I've never even met him until today.

I heard some noise from below me. I peeked over into the main part of the barn and saw Father entering with the king behind him. I quietly scuffled behind a small haystack so they wouldn't see me. The king spoke first.

"Are you sure no one will hear us here?"

Father glanced around and shrugged. "I hope not. No one's usually in here this time of night."

"Alright." The king let out a low cough. "So, why doesn't she know?"

Who doesn't know what? My nosey mood started to kick back in. Anyway, Father never replied to the king's question. So, he spoke again.

"How come your daughter doesn't know anything about...well, herself?"

Father sighed. "It's obvious. I haven't told her."

"Why not?"

"I don't know."

Told me what? Gosh, I want to know now!

"She needs to know where she came from. And earlier today, in the town, you kept trying to get her to scurry off. You're acting like you don't want her to know."

"It's a sore subject. I don't really like to talk about it."

"Is that so? Tough. We're talking about it now."

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"No, you don't. So, tell me, what happened that night you just took off?"

Father froze. He sat down in a chair. "The sheikah told me to leave. She told me that I had to take Sapphire here since she was a real sickly baby." He put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands. "When she handed Sapphire to me, she told me to not come back. I don't understand why, though."

"Ah...I probably know why she told you that. You see, I had thought that your daughter had died straight after birth, but I was mistaken. It was actually Zelda who had died from giving birth. I had found this out and I was...extremely angry, to say the least. You know how I strongly believed that if a woman had children before she is married, she will die giving birth. I didn't want to lose her, but when I did, I was going to come after you. For a while, I blamed you. Then I realized that maybe it was the will of the goddesses. You can't control when it's someone's time to go."

"Yeah, I know. I guess it makes sense. I did blame myself for a while, too. It also doesn't help when I look at Sapphire, either. She looks just like her mother."

Hold up...wait a minute...am I hearing this correctly?

"And you do realize what this means now that I know that your daughter is alive, right?"

Father looked up at the king. "I know what it means, but I can't allow you to take her from me. I already lost her mother; I don't need to lose her too."

The king laughed. "Do you really think that's what I meant?"

Father looked confused. "Um...yes?"

"That's not what I meant, but good guess. You need to stick with being a sword hero, not a logical thinker."

"Ha-ha. You're so funny. If I didn't have any logical thinking, then the world would still be under Ganondorf's demise."

"True. But what I meant was that you do realize who Sapphire is, right?"

"Oh. That's what you meant."

"Do you realize, though?"

"Yes."

"Prove it."

I think I know where this is going. I think, anyway...

Father stood up. "Sapphire Amelia Hyrule, princess of Hyrule, twin sister of Liam Gregson Hyrule, daughter of Link, Hero of Time, and Zelda, Princess of Destiny and Hyrule, and granddaughter of Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule." He sat back down. "Happy now? I told you I realized who she is."

My jaw dropped. I heard that correctly, right? I was a princess? What?! And I was a twin? Of the prince, to be exact. How come I was never told this? No wonder the prince seemed familiar.

The king smiled. "Happy."

"My turn. How come I was never told of the prince's existence?"

"I don't know. I thought you knew."

"I was only told about my daughter, never about my son. My own son! You would think that someone would have told me about a prince!"

"Well, I'm sorry you didn't know. But that's in the past now."

You know what? It's time I interfered. I want to know why I haven't been told any of this! I quietly stood up. Wait...why am I quietly standing? I started making my way down to the bottom of the barn. Father was quickly alerted of my presence. He stood up rather quickly.

"Sapphire?!"

I stopped midway down. I gave him a glare. "I want to know."

"W-want to know what?"

I quickly came down. "How come I wasn't told any of this before?"

Father gave me a guilty look. "I'm sorry. I know, I should've told you earlier."

"Then why didn't you?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know? You don't know?! Ugh! After all these years, and you still haven't found a reason?" I glanced at the king. "Does the prince know?"

The king shook his head. "No. I haven't told him anything, actually."

"O-oh." I sighed. "But still...at least he knows who he actually is." I turned around and left the barn.


	7. Chapter 7

I stormed into the house and walked to my room. I couldn't believe that I had to find out that information that way! I thrust myself onto my squeaky bed and crossed my arms. How dare that was kept secret from me! It would be nice to know about where I came from. Also, not to mention that the prince...he was my brother. My twin brother, to be exact.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a great rumbling erupted. Everything started to shake violently. I quickly ran out my room, almost ran into the prince, and dashed outside. Everyone was scurrying around the village. I heard a few people scream. A huge boulder crashed right beside the graveyard entrance. I looked up. Even though it was supposed to be nighttime, the sky was lit up with a brilliant red. I tilted my head with confusion. Where was the red coming from?

"Sapphire! Move!"

I snapped my attention to whoever called out my name. Next thing I know, someone grabs ahold of my arm and jerks me to the side. A rock about the size of my head lands where I was standing. I turn around and see the prince with his eyes wide.

"Um...thanks?"

"...Yeah."

He just stared at me. He was breathing heavily, like he had just ran across the whole of Hyrule Field. He also had a tight grip on my arm.

"You can let go of my arm now, you know."

"Oh, um, right." He let it go. I rubbed it, since it was a teensy bit sore.

"Do you have any idea on what is going on?"

I shook my head. "No...Father might." I ran off in search for Father. I had to look for a while before I found him with Ollie. They were rounding up villagers together inside the windmill.

"Father!"

He looked me. "Sapphire! There you are! Get inside the windmill!"

"What's going on? Why are there rocks falling? Why is the sky red?"

Father took me to the side. "Remember what I told you about Ganondorf breaking out of his seal?"

I nodded.

"I'm positive that it's true now. I'm positive that he's making Death Mountain's volcano erupt. He was threatening to do it when he was ruler and now that he's out, he's taking revenge on his imprisonment by making it officially erupt."

"A volcano is erupting?! On Death Mountain?"

"There's a reason why it's called that, Sapphire, and it's for the fact that there is a volcano there. I've heard that it erupted a long time ago, way before I was even born. So it was named Death Mountain. Anyway, getting off subject here. Since the prince has one piece of the Triforce, and the volcano is erupting, there's no doubt that Ganondorf had broken out. A new era of chaos is about to begin, and I feel that this time it's going to be a lot worse than from what I saved Hyrule from."

I looked at the ground. This didn't sound too good. Suddenly, a screech sounded out. It was an ear-piercing screech, at that. I covered my ears and squeezed my eyes shut. When I didn't hear anything anymore, I uncovered them and opened my eyes.

A cold chill ran down my spine. Flying through the air was a skeleton of a huge dragon. There were horns on top of its skull, and boney arms from near its ribcage. My eyes widened. What kind of creature was this? The dragon was nothing but...bones! How could this be?!

Father gasped. "Is that...Volvolgia? It can't be! I slayed that creature!"

"What's a Volvolgia?"

"The dragon, Sapphire, the dragon. Hurry, get inside the windmill!" He pushed me towards the windmill. Before we could make it there, I heard a thump. I turned around and saw Father knocked out on the ground with a rather large rock beside him.

"Father!" I shook him. I looked up at the dragon. It was still flying around. I dragged Father inside the windmill. Ollie was standing right beside the door.

"What happened?!" He cried out.

"A falling rock hit him in the head."

"Oh, dear, he's bleeding." Ollie crouched down and parted Father's hair to reveal a gash in his head. I gasped. "That doesn't look good..." he murmured. "Find Impaz. She'll know what to do."

I nodded and searched through the crowded windmill. It didn't help, however, that the crazy old man that stays in here all the time was playing that song over and over. I finally found her after a good minute, though. I tugged her sleeve. She looked up at me.

"What is it?"

"Come quickly! Father's got a nasty gash in his head and he needs medical attention now!"

Impaz gasped. "Lead me to him!"

She followed me to him and examined his head. "Luckily, I've got some bandages on me. I'll have to wrap it up for now and fully treat it later when I have all my supplies."

I nodded and looked out the door's window. The skeleton dragon was still flying around. It suddenly stopped and turned its head towards the windmill. It started to suck in a deep breath. I didn't know what it was about to do, but it didn't seem good. I rushed out the door and picked up a rock then quickly threw it at the beast. It stopped sucking in air and looked straight at me with a quite menacing look.

"Uh-oh."

I made a run for it.

The dragon started flying after me rather fast, I should say. It suddenly spit out what seemed to be a ball of fire at me. I quickly dodged it and ran for cover. I stayed away from the windmill, however, since it seemed set on destroying it. Maybe if I distracted it even further...

I started running again and picked up random stones, then threw them at the dragon. It shook them off like it was nothing and kept flying faster and faster towards me. I saw Father's barn in sight. I ran for that to find some other kind of weapon, since stones seemed to not work. I entered the barn and grabbed the sword I always use to playfully duel Father. Too bad it wasn't a playful duel, but rather a vicious fight.

I ran back out the barn, barely dodging another ball of fire, and ran to higher ground. The entrance to Death Mountain seemed appealing, I guess. I quickly ran over there with the dragon following. It was closing in fast. I quickly thought about this. If this dragon was...well...complete, with skin and muscles, someone would probably decapitate it to get it stop, since it would probably be tough to find its heart to stab and kill. So, if I could manage to cut the head off...would that re-kill it?

I was about to find out.

The dragon was now right in front of me. It opened its mouth and snapped it shut very close to my body. Too close for comfort, actually. I smacked it with the hilt of the sword, which made a small crack in the skull. While it was stunned, I climbed up to the roof of the closest house and prepared to jump. I held the sword in both hands, more like clenched, and jumped. I swung it in front of me and made a clean slice through the skeleton's neck bones. The head of the dragon collapsed on the ground, along with the rest of its body.

Suddenly, the dead dragon exploded into tiny little bits that disappeared into the thin air. I stared where the body once lay, dumbfounded. 'What just happened?' I thought. I then realized that there had been adrenaline pumping through me, since me body was becoming sore all over. I took in a sharp breath. That took a great toll on me. I collapsed onto my knees and started to breath heavily.

Well, until I saw a bright shining light coming from the corner of my left eye.

I glanced at where it was coming from. I gasped when I figured out where exactly it was coming from. On my left hand, the Triforce was shining bright.


	8. Chapter 8

"Sapphire? Sapphire? Wake up!"

"Is she awake yet?"

"What happened to her?"

I felt someone shake my body.

"For the love of the goddesses, wake up!"

I was shaken harder. I blinked my eyes open to see Rico standing right above me and Bethany having a death grip on my arms. We were in the windmill, and everyone was staring at me like they saw a re-dead eat their sibling.

"What?" I mumbled.

"You...you fought a dragon." Bethany stuttered at me. Rico looked frozen with shock.

Memories of the battle came flooding back to me. I remembered fighting the dragon. Also, I remembered Father.

I immediately sat up. "Where's Father?"

Bethany tried to lay me back down. "Don't sit up so suddenly, you're hurt all over!"

I fought against her. "No, I want to see him!"

"But he's...not in good condition..."

"I don't care! I want to see if he's okay!" I jerked out of her grip and stood up. I pushed through the crowded windmill and saw him on the floor with Impaz mending the wound on his head. He still seemed to be unconscious, though. I slowly walked over to Father and sat on the floor beside him.

"He'll be fine, Sapphire."

I looked up at Impaz. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

I smiled a small smile.

Impaz spoke again. "You know, before you woke up, everyone was talking about you."

I looked up at her. "Because of the dragon?"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure everyone was worried sick when you just...jumped out in front of it and threw rocks at it. I'm just happy that you didn't get yourself killed."

"Yeah." I sighed. I'm pretty lucky about that. I started to think about the Triforce that appeared on my hand right after the dragon died. Father was right. Someone else would hold the remaining piece. It just so happened to be me. What would happen now? I stared at my left hand. Some of my skin had darkened to make the shape of the Triforce. I sighed and let the whispers of the crowded windmill take over my thoughts. A few children were running around, playing some kind of game. Most of the adults, however, had their children pulled close to them as they talked to other people. I looked around a little and saw Rico's and Bethany's fathers talking. Rico was leaning against a wall with a scowl on his face. I wondered if it had anything to do about the arranged marriage that Rico's father had suddenly thought of with Bethany. I looked around some more and saw Ollie looking out the door of the windmill. He seemed to be scanning outside to see if it was safe.

I heard a slight groan from beside me. I glanced at Father and saw him shifting slightly. I grinned and looked at Impaz.

"He's waking up!"

"I see that." Impaz sounded a bit surprised.

Father's eyes blinked open. He blinked and looked at me. "Sapphire...?"

"Yes?"

"...He didn't get you..."

He must be talking about the dragon, I thought. "No...I got him."

Father groaned and pushed himself up into a sitting position. When he sat up, his hand went for the wound on his head. He looked at me again. "What do you mean, you got him?"

"I GOT him, Father."

Then, Father smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen him smile. "Really?"

I shook my head.

His smile faltered slightly. Then his facial expression grew more serious. "You're not kidding?"

"Why would I kid about that?"

I heard Impaz rinsing out the rag she was using on Father's head to clean the wound. "No, she's not kidding. You should have seen the battle yourself. I must say, that "sword playing" really paid off."

Father gave a slight chuckle.

"Hey, everyone! It's safe to go outside!" Ollie called out from the entrance. The crowded windmill soon became an empty one, except for us three. Also, the king and prince stood on the other side. The king was looking at us while the prince was looking at the ground. The king walked over to us.

"Link, are you going to be alright?"

Father nodded. "I should be. It's going to be a nasty knot on the top of my head, though." Impaz examined the wound a last time before we left the windmill ourselves. Once we returned to the house, I asked Father if I could speak to him alone. We sat outside on the porch steps.

"Is there anything wrong, Sapphire?"

"Well..." I showed him the mark of the Triforce on my left hand. He let out a small gasp.

"Do you realize what this means?"

I shook, then nodded, then shook my head again. "All I know is that you keep saying Ganondorf is back."

He nodded. "I'll tell the whole story. So, as you know, Ganondorf has been sealed. Well...even though it was strong, it was only supposed to hold him in while the sages would have time to execute him."

"Execute? When did this happen?"

"Let me finish! So, when Zelda had sent me back in time, I had to warn her as a child about him and his plan to disturb the Sacred Realm. She told her father and he sent Ganondorf to the sages for execution. But, Ganondorf had somehow run away before he could be taken. The sages got him eventually, but it was around the time I..." He stopped and shook his head. "It was some time before you were born."

"When?"

"Sapphire, I-"

"No, I want to know! You're hiding something! I've already found out a lot today, what's the point of hiding anything else?"

Father took in a deep sigh. "No...I guess not. But, that's a story for another time. This is a more important matter. Anyway, the sages had placed him in a seal until he was ready for execution. Why they just didn't do it right away, is beyond me. But, apparently, he has escaped and obviously is starting some trouble. Otherwise, the goddesses wouldn't have given the prince or you a piece of the Triforce."

I let the information sink into my mind. "You would think the sages would be smart enough to go ahead and take him out. Well, I guess they have their reasons. Well, now could you answer another question?"

Father sighed. "What?"

"How come you never told me about who I really was?"

He didn't answer immediately. He just sat there for a few seconds before he replied. "I'm not exactly sure why I didn't. I guess it was because I was scared that since you were technically royalty that King Daphnes would take you away from me."

"But if you and the princess...or my mother I should say...had me, then why didn't you just stay in the castle?"

He took in a deep breath. "The sheikah nurse that was helping her give birth told me to leave. When you were born, you were so sick and close to death. I was confined to my room during your birth and told to not come out until it was over. Unfortunately, when the sheikah gave me you and told me to leave and to not come back..."

"You had to listen to her, didn't you?"

"Trust me, you don't disobey a sheikah. But, I really, really wanted to that night. Zelda had passed away from childbirth...and I wasn't able to be there to see her go or to see her funeral. For a while, I was heartbroken and I had blamed myself for her death. But being able to raise you brought me out of that depression. If she were still alive, you and her would be inseparable. You two look alike and act alike. The only difference is that you take after me when it comes to swordplay." He smirked a little bit and let out a chuckle.

I smiled too. "So...how did you and mother...?"

"After I had turned seventeen, I was getting a little bored with not having much to do. There wasn't anything to explore anymore, and I was just making a small living as a ranch hand at Lon Lon Ranch. I had learned that the castle needed a new knight and was offering training. So I talked to the sword captain in Castle Town to sign up. I was soon dubbed a knight and that's how we started to talk more and become...well..."

"Yeah, I get it."

"King Daphnes wasn't aware of our relationship, either, until he caught us in the stables one day. He was pretty ticked off at me for a while, too, but he eventually accepted it and demanded that if we were to continue, that we should be married. So, eventually we were engaged. It was kept secret, though. King Daphnes was worried what the people would say since I wasn't a prince. But, he said he would let them know a few days before the designated day for our marriage. But, a few things happened...and I found out one day that Zelda was pregnant. The king was furious. He has a strong belief that it is bad luck for a woman to bear children before marriage. But, like earlier, he eventually accepted it and postponed the wedding until after she gave birth. Then you know what happened after that."

"So...you were a knight? Of Hyrule?"

"No, just for the castle. They felt that there was no need for Knights of Hyrule at the time."

"That's stupid. They should always be prepared for anything." I sighed. Then something else popped in my head. "What about the prince? Were you telling the truth that you didn't know he existed?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"But Rico said that when he was born, it was announced everywhere."

"It probably was. Once I had arrived here with you and brought you to Impaz, I hardly ever left the house. Nobody ever told me about him. It doesn't help that I was pretty much anti-social for a few months starting out."

"Oh. So it came as a surprise to you that you also had a son?"

"Yeah."

"How much is this going to change?"

"I don't know. One thing I do know, however, is that you and him are the chosen ones of the Triforce, and that you're going to have to take Ganondorf down."

That sentence hit me like a horse had ran over me. "You mean...me?"

"From what I heard from you and Impaz today, you killed Volvolgia."

"The skeleton-dragon?"

"Yes. That proves that you have the Triforce of Courage."

I stood up. "How can you be so sure it's that one?"

"Did anyone else try to fight it?"

I sat down again and shook my head. "No."

"Well, tomorrow, we'll talk more about it. Also, we're going to have to tell Prince Liam."

His name is Liam? Well, shows how much I pay attention. "Okay..." I heard a door squeak from the distance and saw Rico walk out his house.

"You know..." Father spoke, "Your friendship with Rico reminds me a lot of mine and Zelda's before we got together."

I was taken aback. "W-what's that supposed to mean?"

He laughed. "I'm not saying you two act like a couple, it's just y'all get along really...well. Don't let a friendship like that go. But, now that I think about it, I would say I wouldn't be surprised if you two got together."

It's a good thing it was dark outside, or Father would've been able to see my face turn bright red. "That's not going to happen! Besides, his father is arranging a marriage between him and Bethany."

"He is? Well, it's a waste of time."

"You don't think it would work?"

Father shook his head. "Nah. He obviously doesn't like her in that way. I'd say he's more into you than anything." He rubbed my head.

I quickly stood up with my face even redder than before. "Well, it's getting chilly outside...I think I'll turn in." I walked inside and to my bedroom.


	9. Chapter 9

I twisted and turned. Sweat dribbled down my forehead. I was having a nightmare.

It was raining. I looked around. Thunder rolled in the background. I realized I wasn't wearing my usual attire. Lightning flashed in front of me. I was wearing a dark purple tunic with white pants and brown boots. Even though the sky was turning almost pitch black, I was able to see a figure in front of me.

"Sapphire..."

I squinted my eyes. The figure was coming closer. Slowly.

"Saapphiirree..."

"Who are you?" I called out. "Why are you calling me?"

"Come here..."

A faint breeze stirred up. Before I could take a step foward, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and saw a man. But this was a strange man. His face was almost pig-like, his red hair tangled in knots, and is dark eyes staring into mine.

I felt my heart beat faster.

The man seemed to be glistening with sweat. But when I looked closer, it wasn't sweat at all.

"Hello, my deeaarrrr..."

I backed away slowly. The man was sweating blood!

"Are you frightened?"

I backed up some more, my heart starting to race.

"Good." He lunged at me with outstretched claws.

I screamed.

*Link's P.O.V.*

I woke up to a high-pitched scream. Instantly realizing it was Sapphire's scream, I jumped out of bed and ran to her room, completely ignoring the fact that my head was killing me. She was sitting straight up, hair plastered with sweat, and still screaming. I sat down on her bed and hugged her.

"Shh...it's okay...shhh..."

She quieted down enough to start crying. Impaz walked through the door, with the king following.

"Is she alright?" Impaz asked.

I just glanced at her sightly. "I think she had a nightmare." Sapphire's sobbing slowly quieted down. Impaz sat down on the bed too and rubbed Sapphire's back.

"Would you like a glass of water?"

Sapphire nodded. She pulled away from me and sniffled.

King Daphnes was still standing there, looking unsure of what to do. I just ignored him, a thousand times more concerned about my daughter.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked her. She nodded and pulled her knees to her chest. Her hair was a little more dry than it was before.

"It was dark and rainy. There was thunder and lightning. I was wearing a purple tunic. This man came out of nowhere and he was calling my name...he looked hideous, too."

"What did he look like?"

Sapphire seemed to shake slightly. "He had almost a pig-like face. It was so disheveled. And he seemed to be sweating blood! He attacked me and I woke up."

I couldn't help but get the suspicion that she had dreamed about Ganondorf. Before I could ask her for more details, King Daphnes spoke up.

"It seems that you dreamed of Ganondorf. There's no doubt about it. Was there anything else significant about your dream?"

She shook her head. "No, sir."

"Alright, then." He turned and left. Impaz came back in with some water. She handed it back to Sapphire and she took a swallow.

"Thanks, Impaz."

"No problem, dear."

I sighed and looked at Sapphire. "Feeling better now?"

She nodded. After setting the glass on a sidetable, she snuggled under her blankets. I gave her a kiss on the forehead and left the room.

I couldn't shake Sapphire's dream off. It troubled me deeply. She seemed so terrified.

It kept me awake most of the night. I had so many thoughts running through my head. Sapphire was obviously going to have to put Ganondorf back where he belongs. She proved that today by defeating the already dead Volvolgia. The goddesses even gave her the mark of the Triforce with Farore's blessing of courage. But, she was so terrified of even a simple dream. How could she deal with Ganondorf in real life if she couldn't handle something unreal?

Suddenly, I remembered that I felt the same way a long time ago. I, too, had dreams of Ganondorf before my own quest had started. I was only ten, though, instead of sixteen, like Sapphire. But, I had experience with enemies before I took on him. I had a tree and two whole temples to clear of evil before I pulled the master sword. I was held for seven years, though, so I was seventeen when I sealed Ganondorf.

But if Sapphire was chosen by the goddesses to do it again, then I should have faith in her. She had inhereted my sword skills, plus it was easier to teach her some newer skills since she was left-handed, like me.

I slowly drifted off to sleep, the thoughts in my head slowly turning into a blur.

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

I woke up feeling very tired. Yesterday was the most eventful day of my whole life. It was my birthday, I went to Castle Town, met the king and the prince, found out Bethany and Rico have an arranged marraige, found out my mother was Princess Zelda herself and the prince was my twin brother, defeated a dragon, and was given a piece of the Triforce. I think it's safe to say it was stressful.

I climbed out of bed and headed towards the dining room. Everyone else was already awake. The king and prince were still here. Father glanced up at me.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

I yawned. "What time is it?"

Impaz looked out the window at the sundial. "About late morning. Would you like something to eat?"

I nodded. "Yes, please." Impaz got up and went to the kitchen. I sat down in my usual chair and pushed my hair behind my ear.

The king spoke. "Sapphire, have you ever considered getting your ears pierced?"

I gave a confused look. "No...that's a male thing around here."

"I know. Since this is an old sheikah village, some of the old traditions are kept alive. Tell me, do you know why only males really get earrings?"

I nodded. Impaz told me all about the sheikah. "It was a coming-of-age ritual for male sheikah warriors."

"Well, I'll ask again. Have you considered getting your ears peirced?"

Father gave the king a dirty look. He seemed to know something I didn't.

I shook my head. "No. Why would I? I'm not a male or a warrior."

"But, you'll be a warrior soon, if I'm correct."

My mouth dropped. Suddenly, I remembered that Father told me that I would be the one to return Ganondorf to his seal. Did the king know this? Father growled. "Let's not bring that up."

The prince spoke for the first time. "How is SHE going to be a warrior? Women aren't meant to be warriors."

I stood up abruptly. "Excuse me? I bet I could beat you in a sword match any given day, you sexist pig!"

The prince stood up also. "How dare you insult me! How would you even beat me? I have knights as trainers! It doesn't look like you have anyone!"

The king looked like he was about to say something, but Father held up his hand to silence him. He had a smirk on his face.

I frowned. "You obviously have no respect for anyone who isn't as rich or royal as you. And I do have someone who teaches me, and he's way better than any of your knights!"

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"My father," I said smugly.

He laughed. "How is he better than a knight? I bet he's never even seen a knight."

I shook my head. "You don't even know who my father is. I KNOW he's better. You don't. I can prove it by beating you in a match!"

"Alright! Let's go, then!"

And thus began our duel.

Beforehand, I had switched into an older light red dress. I slipped on my boots and tied my hair into a ponytail. We met out in front of Father's old barn. Impaz had been alerted of our argument and was sitting on the porch of our house, watching us.

Father handed us both a wooden sword (so we wouldn't kill eachother, obviously). When he handed me mine, he had a huge smirk. "Teach him a lesson, Sapphire."

The prince made the first move. By this time, though, just about the whole village had been told about the duel. I saw Rico and Bethany out the corner of my eye. I dodged and noticed he was left-handed, like I was.

The whole he swings - I dodge king of thing repeated for a while. He couldn't land a hit on me because he was so easy to dodge. Eventually, he was getting tired. I could tell.

"Aww, is the wittle spoiled princy-wincy getting tired?" I taunted.

He growled and lunged at me. I rolled away and laughed.

"Don't laugh at me!" He shouted.

"You make it too easy. I haven't even swung at you yet. You're basically defeating yourself!"

"No I'm not! You're just being a coward!"

"Haha. Whatever."

He swung.

I dodged.

He growled and swung again.

I dodged again.

Once he was pretty tired, I decided to pull a move. I rolled around him and jumped into the air, whacking the wooden sword into his side. He let out a yelp and turned around, looking even angrier. I laughed.

"Told ya it was too easy."

"Why you little..." He ran at me, swinging his sword back and forth. I blocked it and held it there for a moment, before pushing foward, causing him to lose balance, and poked him in the stomach. This caused him to fall backwards on his butt.

The prince let out a deep growl. The crowd was having a good laugh at his defeat. The king had his face in his palm, looking embarassed.

I walked up to him. "Now, dear opponent who I have easily defeated, what's that about women not being warriors and my father?"

He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not just some opponent. It's Prince Liam to you."

I pointed my wooden sword at his throat. "Answer the question."

He just growled, pushed the sword out his face, stood up, and walked away.

Father came up to me and patted me on the back.

"That's my girl."

I laughed. "Are you sure that I'm truly related to him?"

Father sighed. "Well...unfortunately..." He laughed. "I shouldn't joke about that. I don't understand why he acts like that though."

"Me neither."

We walked back to the house. Impaz had cooked some sausage for me before the duel. I ate it, it was delicious, and I walked back outside. But, Father called me back in.

I sighed and went back inside. The king, prince, and Father were in the living room.

"Yes?"

Father sighed. "We all need to have a serious discussion."

"About..."

"You know."

I think I know...not really sure. I sat down in a chair and shrugged. "Okay."

The King spoke first. "Well, first, we should tell Liam here what's going on."

Prince Liam furrowed his eyebrows. "What? What do I have to do with whatever this is?"

Father sat down in a chair with a deep sigh. "Dear goddesses...here we go," he mumbled.

The king spoke again. "Well, Liam, you're always asking me about your family..." He glanced at Father.

"And?" Prince Liam seemed to take note of the glance. "What does he have to do with it?"

"He will explain." He gestured at Father.

Father's eyes went wide. "Wait, why do I have to explain it!?"

"You sort of caused it."

"It wasn't completetly my fault."

"So? I'd rather he hear it from you."

Father sighed again. "Fine." He closed his eyes for a few seconds and looked at Prince Liam.

"Well, you see...I knew your mother."

Prince Liam narrowed his eyes. "How well? And how? You look like you lived here your whole life."

"Um, well, like Sapphire mentioned earlier, you really don't know who I am."

"Well, who are you then?"

"Have you ever heard the stories of the Hero of Time?"

Prince Liam rolled his eyes. "Who hasn't?"

"Everyone who's not the royal family and Sapphire and Impaz."

He seemed taken aback. "O-oh. Well, in that case, yes, I have. Why? The Hero of Time hasn't been seen like, ever. No one knows who he is."

"You actually know very well who he is."

"Um, no I don't."

I brought my palm to my face. "You idiot..."

He looked at me. "How dare you call me an-"

"Liam!" The king snapped. "Pay attention!"

"Fine, fine, whatever. Continue."

Father shook his head. "Anyway, even though you don't realize it, he is here among us."

"Well then, who is the legendary hero?" Prince Liam shouted. "If you think you know so much about him, who is he!?"

I don't know how he does it, but Father remained calm.

"I am."

Prince Liam's mouth dropped. "T-That's impossible."

"It's true."

He looked at me. "So...you weren't kidding when you said he was better."

I shook my head. "Nope."

Father continued. "That's how I knew her."

"But that doesn't answer my question of how well."

"To make a long story short, I knew her well enough...to be...engaged to her."

His facial expression turned from surprise to confusion and back to surprise. "Wait...what? How?"

His facial expression turned from surprise to confusion and back to surprise. "Wait...what? How?"

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair.

Father contined. "I was becoming a knight. I had learned pretty quickly, since I was already an experienced swordsman. So I eventually was dubbed a knight and I spent most of my time around Zelda. We eventually got engaged."

Prince Liam stared at him. "So what happened?"

"What do you mean, what happened?"

"How come you didn't stay with her?"

Father raised an eyebrow. "I...I did stay with her...what are you saying?"

"I've been told that there was a knight engaged to my mother and he left her when he found out she cheated on him and was pregnant by someone else."

Father's mouth dropped. "Who told you that?" He looked at the king. "Did you?"

The king shook his head, looking confused as well.

Prince Liam glanced back and forth. "That's the rumor back at home. They say that's why I didn't have a father to raise me. Do you two know something I don't?" He asked accusingly.

This is going to be interesting.

He looked at me. "You know something too, don't you?"

I shrugged.

Father sighed. "Yes, we all know something you don't."

"Well then, what is it!?"

"...You see, there was never 'another man'. I don't think Zelda was like that. It was just me and her."

"So there wasn't anyone else?"

Father shook his head.

Prince Liam seemed to process it for a few moments until it finally clicked. "You..."

Then he snapped. "You ABANDONDED me! You left me parentless! You left me a bastard! You killed Mother and left! Did you think it was okay to just leave after she died and just go find another woman to have another child? Do you even know how much stress it put me through with everyone's pity and my wondering of who my father was!? It's all your fault!"

Father didn't even flinch at the outburst. It's like he expected it. But he was the only one. The king and I were staring at Prince Liam like he just grew wings and took flight.

Father sighed. "Yes, it is my fault, but not completely. It's not my fault that childbirth took her life. And I didn't just up and leave. I was FORCED to leave by Zelda's guardian sheikah. But you don't know why. I didn't take another woman after her. I've only ever had Zelda."

"Well then how does SHE exist?" He thrusted his hand in my direction.

"The same way you do. Sapphire is no younger nor any older than you are."

"So is she my twin or something!? Why can't you just be clear about things? Why do you have to say everything like it's a riddle?"

Father glared at him. "If you would let me finish, I could tell you! You have no clue what happened, and I am trying to tell you. You don't know how hard this is for me. I just found out you existed yesterday! I didn't just take Sapphire and go. I was given her and the sheikah told me to leave. Sapphire was dying and Zelda was dead. I wasn't even allowed to say goodbye to her!" A tear ran down his cheek. "...The last time I saw her was right before she went into labor. I had no clue of her fate. The only thing I was aware of was Sapphire was in dire need of medical help and that the sheikah told me to leave. So, no, I didn't abandon you by choice or knowledge."

The three of us stared at Father. I have never seen him that angry before. I didn't know he had that much pent up frustration about that. He left the room and went outside, slamming the door behind him.

Prince Liam shouted at his grandfather. "You KNEW about this and didn't tell me?"

I took this oppertunity to leave as well. I looked for Father and found him in his barn. He was sitting in a chair, staring at a pictograph. (*the pic in the sidebar is the pictograph. i drew that but decided to not color it.*) I walked over to him and stood beside him. The pictograph was a younger version of father and a very beautiful woman. They were both smiling joyously. The woman stuck out, though. She had bright sapphire blue eyes, like mine (except mine were a little darker) and her hair was a light blonde. It was halfway tied up. Her head was cradled in Father's neck and Father was leaning his head against hers.

"That's her," he said calmly.

"Really? She's beautiful."

"Yes, she is. You have some of her feautures, even though you take after me more. You have her eyes,her light hair, her personality...As for the prince, he just looks like her completely, except his hair is darker and his eyes are like mine, light blue."

"How come she isn't wearing a crown?" I asked.

"That day, we had snuck out of the castle and went to Castle Town to celebrate our engagement. We just made sure she didn't look like royalty, or people would recognize her. She didn't wear make-up, her crown, or any of her outfits. She borrowed one of her maid's older dresses. We had passed by a pictographer and Zelda suggested we take a pictograph. We haven't yet had a painting done of us, nor were we schedualed to for a while, so it was a good idea. This is the only thing, painting or pictograph, with both of us together. I've had it ever since."

I tried to imagine the scene in my head. It was a bit difficult, but it happened.

I was about to ask what she was like, but I was interrupted by a violent shaking. It felt like an earthquake. Father tucked the pictograph inside his shirt, stood up quickly and ran outside. There were dark clouds approaching the village at a rather quick pace. Some of the villagers started screaming loudly. In the distace, a figure on a black horse was approaching. Father gasped loudly.

"No...Quick, Sapphire! In the house!"

"But-"

"Now!"

I ran to the house.

*Link's P.O.V.*

He's back.

Ganondorf actually did break his seal.

And now, he's going to be fiercer than ever.

I ran back to the barn and grabbed my best sword. It was long and sharp, evenly balanced, and made of pure steel. I ran back outside and saw the other villagers run into the saftey of their homes.

I only hope I can protect them.

It didn't take Ganondorf long to reach the village. He stopped in front of me.

"Well, well, well...it's been a long time, hasn't it...Link?" He said my name full of spite.

"It has, Ganondorf."

"I hope you haven't been bored without me. I know you have, though. Hyrule is such a bore without all the chaos."

"Too bad no one else agrees." I tightened my grip around my sword, ready to attack at any given moment.

"That is a shame, isn't it. But, for another matter...I don't sense the Triforce on you anymore."

"So? That doesn't mean I won't slay you again."

"Your efforts against me are useless. I know you're just trying to protect the village, even if it costs your life." He adverted his gaze from me. "But the village, it seems like, isn't the only thing you're trying to protect."

I growled. He must sense the other holders of the Triforce. I just hope he doesn't know they're my children. I didn't take my eyes off him though. I probably should have, though. What he said next chilled me to the bone.

"So, where's their mother? I don't think the king or the old lady are. But, based on their feautures, I'd say Hyrule's very own princess birthed those two."

I tightened my grip even furthur and brought the sword up.

"I wonder just how far you would go to protect them." Ganondorf started spawning an energy ball from his hand. But before he could shoot it at me, a stone hit his head.

I looked at the direction the stone came from. It turns out that Sapphire's best friend, Bethany, was trying to distract him.

"Leave, you filthy vermin!"

"Bethany, get back here!" Bethany's mother called from a distance. Ganondorf laughed. "Looks like she's trying to be a hero! Let's see how much of a hero she is!" He threw a magic ball at her rather quickly. It hit her with such great force that it threw her back and she hit a house wall with a sickly thud. Even though it was very devastating, I took this moment to attack Ganondorf. Backed up by anger for harming an innocent, I slashed at him, giving him a nice red line on his arm. His attention turned back to me. I heard Bethany's mother screaming. Ganondorf, unfortutely, took this oppertunity to hit me with his fist and throw me back as well. I landed near a house, almost unconcious and weak. This caused some of the villagers to leave their houses and help me attack Ganondorf.

The next thing I knew, a pile of wood was falling on me, crushing me. Even though it was really painful, I was able to move some bit. I had a small peephole to see what was happening, but I could feel my strenghth slowly dripping away with every second.

I saw Sapphire running towards where Bethany lay, screaming her name. I yelled at Sapphire to get back inside. She didn't listen. Instead, I heard her scream, "You monster!", and next thing I knew, she was running towards Ganondorf. I screamed out Sapphire's name with my remaining strenghth, hoping she would't attack him. Fortunately, Rico came out of his house and ran to Sapphire faster than I've ever seen anyone run. He grabbed her around her waist, binding her to him, and held her back tightly, dragging her away from Ganondorf. I silently thanked Rico. Sapphire thrashed around, trying to escape his grip. But Rico was much stronger and was able to take her inside my house.

I don't remember anything after that, for I drifted into unconciousness.


	10. Chapter 10

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

I remember running outside when I saw Bethany hit a house and collapsed.

I remember seeing her broken, unbreathing body.

I remember charging after the monster who killed her.

It had all happened in a flash.

At the current moment, Rico had his strong, muscular arms around me, preventing me from attacking that beastly man. I kept struggling against him, trying to get loose.

"Rico, let me go!"

"No! You'll just end up killing yourself!"

I kept struggling. Rico eventually got me inside my house.

"You need to stay in here where it's safe."

"But he killed Bethany! How do you expect me to just sit in here and not avenge her?"

"I don't."

"Then let me out there!" I stood up again. Rico grabbed me by the shoulders.

"Sapphire, trust me. It's better you stayed in here. It's really dangerous out there."

"But I know how to use a sword! You know this. You saw me defeat that dragon, didn't you? Didn't you!?"

He sighed. "Yes, but that...THING is not a dragon. He's a...humanoid monster that killed someone in one hit."

"I don't care! Let me go!" I tried to get out of his grasp. I hit him in the arm. "Let me go, " I hit him again, "let me go," hit him again, "let me go!"

"I'm not letting you go." He held my shoulders tighter.

I felt a warm tear run down my cheek. "I have to get him for what he's done." Another tear fell. Rico slowly wrapped his arms around me when I started to sob. I buried my head into his chest.

"S-s-she's gone. He...killed her."

"Shh..."

*Rico's P.O.V.*

I heard a scuffling of footsteps. I looked around with my eyes and saw Impaz, King Daphnes, and Prince Liam standing there. Sapphire's head lifted up and she looked at them as well. Impaz spoke.

"Bethany's dead, isn't she?"

Silence filled the room. It was one of those deafening silences that wanted to make you make noise, but no one dared to. It seemed we were all paying our respects for her.

Then I realized that the reason the silence was so...silent was because there wasn't any noise fr outside. I let go of Sapphire and peeked out the window.

My suspicions were confirmed.

"The fighting is over..."

King Daphnes' deep royal voice filled the room. "Already? That doesn't seem right." He looked out the window as well.

The people that were fighting weren't cheering. They weren't reuniting with their loved ones or children. They were lying on the ground, either dead or close to it. Everyone else was still in their houses, probably unaware of what happened yet.

"Is...is Father out there?" Sapphire questioned, her voice quivering

I jolted slightly. Link had been crushed under falled logs. I remembered seeing that before I ran after Sapphire. There was a good chance he didn't survive that. I turned and looked at Sapphire. I didn't know what to say. I didn't get a chance, though. She took my silence as an answer and bolted out the door.

Impaz sighed. "I should get supplies ready." She walked into another room.

Prince Liam spoke for the first time that I've seen him. "That's the second time she's done that. It's a surprise she hasn't gotten herself hurt, as sudden as she is."

I stared at him. I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"Leave her alone, Liam. I don't blame her. She's worried about Link. Aren't you?" King Daphnes gave him a look.

Prince Liam turned his face to the side and sighed. Then I realized something. Sapphire does the exact same thing sometimes. What a coincedence...

"I guess so," he said. He looked at the ground.

Okay, that's too much of a coincedence.

Impaz came back with a lot of medical supplies. She started for the door. I opened it for her.

"Wait..." the king said, "Liam, you should help them. You have a little bit of medical training. Besides, they need all the help they can get."

His eyes went wide. "Grandfather...I don't know enough! Why don't you?"

I tuned them out a bit when deja-vú hit me. Prince Liam's facial expression looked WAY too much like Sapphire's when she's surprised. I then remembered that they had the same birthday. Add the fact that they looked similar...

Dear Nayru...were they twins?

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

"Father!" I called out. I hoped and prayed to the goddesses that he was alright. People were starting to come out their homes and taking in the scene. Wives and children were starting to cry over their loved ones. I still didn't see Father anywhere, though. I kept looking. I saw a pile of logs that weren't usually there. I rushed over, wondering if anyone was underneath. Once I had a few pulled away, I could see clothing.

I know that clothing.

I started to throw the logs off faster until I could see Father's whole body. He seemed to be in good shape, but he was out cold. The bandage around his head from last night's injury was still fresh; it just had a little bloodstain from where the wound was.

I heard Rico's voice from behind me. "Is he okay?"

I looked up at him and nodded. "He's fine, I think. Well, he's a lot better off than most of everyone right now." I saw Impaz healing some people who were close to dying. A lot of people were helping her out, too. Even the king and prince, as well.

"Hmph...it's about time Prince Liam does something not selfish."

Rico gave me a look. "Is he selfish?"

I nodded vigorously. Rico sat down beside me. I sighed. "He's so...ugh. I don't know how he's royalty. He'd be better off as a greedy shopkeeper."

"Ah, he's like that?"

"Yes. I don't even know how he's..." I almost said 'related to me', but I wasn't sure if Rico should know or not. I mean, I just found out myself.

Rico narrowed his eyes. "You don't know what?" He seemed suspicious and it looked like something was bothering him.

"Nothing. I don't know." I pulled my knees to my chest and stared at Father. The more I stared, though, the more I realized just how much Prince Liam looks like him. I don't see how Father said that he took after our mother. But, then again, I've only ever seen a pictograph of her once.

Once...

I remembered that the pictograph was in Father's shirt. I wanted to see her again. Forgetting that Rico was right beside me, I searched for it. It didn't take me long to find it. I sat back down and stared at it. Father and Mother looked so happy. I smiled.

"Who's that?" Rico asked.

I jumped slightly. "Oh...that's my mother."

"You look like her a little bit, but I'd say you take after your pa more."

I smirked. "Yeah, he said the same thing."

Rico looked off towards the other people. "You know who else looks like him? Not as much as you, but just a little bit?"

My eyes widened slightly. I DID know, but I decided to play it cool.

"No, who?"

Rico looked at me. I looked back at him. His eyes narrowed.

"I think you know who."

"Are you accuusing me of something?"

"Oh, no, I just thought you wouldv'e guessed it by now."

"Guessed what?"

Rico sighed. "Sapphire...I think Prince Liam...I think he's related to you."

I widened my eyes in surprise. "What makes you think that?" How did he know?

"He made that same facial expression earlier. I immediately realized that you do the exact same thing. Not to mention you two look alike. Also, you share birthdays. Are you really that clueless?"

I turned away and looked at the ground.

"He did that too. I don't think you two are just simply related. I think you two are twins."

I sighed. I found no reason to hide it anymore.

"Yes, Rico, we are."

He wasn't expecting that answer. "R-really?"

I nodded. "Remember our conversation yesterday about how I never knew anything about my mother?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, I know now. I just found out yesterday."

"Found what out?"

"My mother was Zelda."

Rico gasped. "As in, Princess Zelda?"

I nodded.

Rico looked at the pictograph, then back at me. "Then why aren't you living in the castle?"

"It's a long story."

"Oh. But it still explains so much."

"Explains what?"

"Well, as you know, I remember when you first arrived at the village. It's my earliest memory. It was stormy. Mama had helped Impaz take care of you for a bit. The next day, Prince Liam's birth was announced. You had came from the castle that night, didn't you?"

"Yeah." I put the pictograph back in Father's shirt. As I pulled away, Rico grabbed my left hand. I looked at him, shocked. He looked at it closely. I knew exactly what he was looking at.

"Sapphire...is this what I think it is?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It happened right after I killed that dragon thing." I pulled my hand away and looked at the mark.

"Rico...do you know who Ganondorf is?"

Rico thought for a moment. "Isn't he that guy who was arrested for treason way before we were born? Like, back when our parents were kids?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but there's much more to that. Do you know how he was caught?"

He shrugged. "The story is that Princess Zelda figured it out. At least, that's what I was told by mama as a bedtime story."

"That's not the whole story."

"Well, I was also told that some boy helped. Why?"

"Well, that boy was my father. He knew what Ganondorf was up to. He saw what happened with his own eyes."

"What do you mean?"

I told him the whole story of the Hero of Time. I don't know why, but I did. Rico looked a bit skeptical about it.

"Are you sure you should be telling me this if it's a secret between you two and the royal family?"

I shrugged. "I just felt the need to tell you. Besides...I don't know if you realize, but Ganondorf has broken out of his seal."

"Well, your father can seal him back, right? He's done it before."

I nodded. "Yes, that's true, but Rico...he doesn't have the Triforce of Courage anymore. I do."

Suddenly, I heard Father let out a groan. His eyes opened slightly. I let out a joyous "Father!" and hugged him. He yelped in pain. I immediately recoiled, scared that I had hurt him. He let out a breath and sat himself up.

"Are you okay, Father?"

He nodded. "I've been better, but I'm okay. I think I have a few broken ribs. Is the village okay?"

I looked around. "I think so...but there's been a few casulties."

I heard Father swear under his breath. He looked at Rico.

"Thank you for preventing Sapphire from attacking him."

"N-no problem, sir."

Father slowly stood himself up. I heard him grunt a few times, but he managed to do it. He started walking home with a slight limp. He almost fell, too. I ran over to help him and let him lean on my shoulder. Rico helped as well. I saw a few villagers stare at us. We made it inside.

*a few hours later*

The whole village was standing in the graveyard. We were having the funeral for the ones who died. There were five deaths: Bethany, Ollie's son-in-law, Rico's uncle, one of the carpenters, and Bethany's cousin Juke. A lot of people were injured, like Father, Rico's father, Bethany's panrents...a lot of other people, too. It was a very sad day. Everyone was in tears. Even the priest was having a hard time talking, and he was used to funerals.

After it was over, everyone left except for me, Father, the king, and the prince. Us four just stood there in silence. Suddenly, King Daphnes spoke.

"Sapphire, you're going to have to go after him soon. He can't do anything else like this."

I glanced at him. "Well, what do you suppose I do?" I snapped.

"You have the Triforce of Courage, don't you? Your father once had it. You can do the same thing he did."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Father retorted. "Don't forget, I have a say in this."

"Fine," the king said, "but you know you have to agree with me. Ganondorf will be rampaging Hyrule soon. He needs to be stopped, and it has to be her! Why else would the goddessed bless her with a piece of the Triforce? They're obviously calling her to her destiny."

"But she's not the only one they're calling forth." Father pointed at Prince Liam. "He's been chosen, too."

The king looked at his grandson with surprise. "Liam...is this true?"

He nodded with a sigh.

"How come you never told me?"

He shrugged. "I didn't want you blabbing to the whole kingdom about it. Besides, I don't want this kind of power. I don't want to be dragged into some kind of mess that I don't know how to fix. Besides, I'm not even wise."

"Ah, but Liam, you are wiser than you think. Just like your mother."

He didn't respond.

"Well, anyway, if this is the case, both of you will have to stop him. I suggest you start today."

I gave a weird look. "Why today? Why can't it be tomorrow? Or two days from now? Why NOW?"

"It has to be as soon as possible. Ganondorf could start his destruction any minute. Well, he already has, in a way. We must go to the castle to get you two prepared." He turned and left the graveyard. I looked at Father.

"What should I do?"

He sighed. "He's right, Sapphire. But you're the one who has to make the decision yourself. I'm not going to try to sway you in any direction." He also left.

It was just me and the prince now. We stood there in an awkward silence. Then he spoke up.

"Is it weird to you?"

"What?"

"Everything. Everything's just happened so fast over just two days. We found out we were twins, Ganondorf broke out of his seal, you defeated a dragon and gained the Triforce of Courage, Ganondorf attacked this village, your friend died, and your...our father is injured."

"Huh...it is a little weird. When were you given the Triforce of Wisdom?"

"A couple of days before I came here. Um...are you thinking about actually going after Ganondorf?"

I shrugged. "I don't know if I should, but it's pretty much my destiny. I mean, I can't avoid it. I just don't know why it has to start today."

"I think Grandfather wants to prevent what happened in the Hero of Time's tale. It would make sense. No one wants a dictatorship like that again. Well, except it wouldn't be again, because it happened in a different timeline that parallels this one."

"You know, the king is right. You are wiser than you think."

He shrugged. "I guess. You might as well refer to him as 'Grandfather', too, instead of king."

"Yeah, I guess so."

We stood there in another awkward silence.

"I think we should do it."

I looked at him. "Really? You do?"

"Yeah. Like you said, we can't avoid our destiny."


	11. Chapter 11

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

Prince Liam and I made our way back to my house. After our discussion, I think that we should really start with this quest today. I already sort of knew what he had to do.

Ganondorf had broken out of his seal and was rampaging over Hyrule already. He's already killed five people and injured many more. So, I think what I had to do was put him back in his seal.

King Daphnes, or technically Grandfather, as I should say now, was packing the carriage that he and Prince Liam had arrived on yesterday. People were starting to bid him farewell, unknowing that I would most likely be leaving with them today.

I walked inside and saw Father sitting in the dining room. He looked incredibly sad. I sat down in the chair next to him. He glanced up at me.

"Are you going to stop him?"

I nodded.

"So, your leaving today, arem't you?"

I nodded again.

Father gave a small smile. "I wish you luck on your quest."

"Aren't you worried?"

"Of course I am, but I have a lot of faith in you." He put his hand on my shoulder. "If the Goddess of Courage has given you her mark and has blessed you with the Triforce of Courage, I have no doubt that you will succeed. Of course, I'm still going to be worried for you, but what kind of father would I be if I wasn't worried?"

I let out a small laugh. "That's true. But where am I supposed to start? I know what I should strive for, but I don't know...how."

Father nodded slightly. "I couldn't tell you either, but I can tell you that your best bet is asking the seven sages for advice."

"The seven sages live in the Temple of Time near Castle Town, right?"

"If they haven't moved in the past twenty-five years then yes. But you'll need the Ocarina of Time to get in."

"Do you have it? That's the same ocarina you used on your adventure, isn't it?"

"It is the same one, but it's in Hyrule Castle. Even though Zelda gave it to me, it still ended up back there later." He looked off into space, then looked back at me. "It's not a bad idea to go to the castle first. King Daphnes wasn't lying when he said you needed to be prepared."

"How much preparement do I need?"

Father thought about it for a moment. "Really, I'm not sure. I do know that you'll need things that we don't have here."

"Okay." I stood up. But then something crossed my mind.

"Father...what do we tell everyone? When they see me leave, they're bound to ask questions."

"That is a good question. Don't worry about it. When the time comes, I'll take care of it."

"Alright." I turned to leave. I wanted to say bye to Rico. "I'll be right back."

"Okay."

I left my house and headed straight for Rico's. I knocked on his door and his mother answered.

"Hello, Sapphire! Nice to see you!"

"Nice to see you too, Miss Opal. Is Rico here? I would like to speak with him for a moment."

"I'm afraid he's not. He just left a few moments ago. I'm not sure where he went, however. He just said he'd be back whenever."

"Okay, thank you." I bid her goodbye and started searching for Rico.

Which only took a few minutes.

He was standing near the entrance of Death Mountain Trail. The gate was closed, as usual, and the guard that usually stood there hasn't been there in a while. I knew Rico wasn't trying to get in. But he was standing there as if he wanted to. I approached him slowly.

"Rico..."

He didn't look in my direction. Instead, he just spoke.

"I thought about what you told me earlier."

"You did?"

I heard him take a sigh. He tilted his head to the ground. "You're leaving, aren't you? You're going after that thing that attacked our village."

I didn't respond at first. It felt difficult to, but I wasn't sure why. After a few quiet seconds, I let out a quiet, "Yeah." I walked over beside him.

We stayed quiet and stood there like that for a while. I fiddled with the necklace he had given me for my birthday. I hadn't taken it off since I had put it on.

Rico broke the silence. "Be careful...you promise?"

I hugged him from the side. "I promise."

"I'm serious, Sapphire. We've both lost a dear friend today, and I really don't want to lose you as well." He hugged me back.

"I know." We released the hug. I looked up at him. He looked really sad, but I didn't blame him.

I turned to leave. "I'll see you soon, Rico. I promise." I took a few steps away, but stopped when I heard him call my name. I heard the grinding of dirt under his shoes as he turned around. As soon as I turned around, though, there was a small amount of space in between our faces.

And that small space was quickly closed when Rico grabbed my shoulders and pressed his lips against mine.

*Liam's P.O.V.*

Grandfather and I had finished packing our belongings and placing them in the carriage. We were waiting for Sapphire. Link...or Father, rather, said she had left and would be right back. Impaz was told of Sapphire leaving with us and now she was packing a few things for Sapphire to take with her.

It was a few minutes before Sapphire came back. When she came inside, her face was red. And I mean RED. It was that red that you turn when either you're extremely embarrassed or when your blood rushes to your head from extreme excitement or when you hang upside-down for a long time.

Impaz walked back into the room with a bag for Sapphire when she noticed.

"Bless Nayru, Sapphire, why is your face so red?"

Sapphire put her hand to her face. "I...I don't kn-know."

Her father gave her a suspicious look, as if he knew something the rest of us didn't. But he didn't say anything. I saw a very slight but noticible smirk on his face. Did he know the reason?

"So...are we ready to leave?" Grandfather asked.

"I guess..." I shrugged.

"What about you, Sapphire?"

...No response.

"Sapphire?"

Still no response. She seemed really distracted. She was staring off into space. Her face wasn't as red anymore, but it still had a slight pink tint to it.

"Sapphire!" Grandfather called louder. She jolted a bit from the sudden call and looked at him.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"Oh...um...yeah, I think. I mean, I am."

"Alright. Meet me at the carriage when you are completely ready." He turned and left the house.

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

I was sitting in the carriage. We were on our way to Hyrule Castle. The prince and I were going to be preparing for our journey over the next week. Father had given me some last-minute advice right before I left. I remembered all of it.

He had said things about Ganondorf that he remembered and things about the seven sages. I remembered asking him if they were the same ones he had saved. They weren't, since he had went back in time to before Ganondorf had broken into the Sacred Realm and attacked them for a piece of the Triforce, so they were never killed and therefore, not the ones he had saved. But the one thing he told me about the sages that I remember the most...

Father had said that Zelda, my mother, was a sage. She was the seventh. He said that once a sages physical form dies, their spirtual form stays and protects the Sacred Realm. So, my mother could very well be with the sages and if I was able to see them, I might be able to see her...

The ride to the castle was about thirty minutes, since Kakariko village and Castle Town were pretty close together. It was just me and Prince Liam inside the carriage; the king -Grandfather, was driving it. During the trip, I stared out the back of the carriage, noticing just how vast Hyrule Field was. I didn't really get to look when Father and I went to Castle Town, since we were on horses and I had to pay attention to what I was doing.

We had finally arrived at the castle. We stopped in the stables to drop off the horses. I grabbed the bag Impaz had packed for me then stepped out the carriage and waited for the other two. A few people had appeared, out of nowhere it had seemed, to take care of the horses and pull the carriage away. Grandfather and Prince Liam walked away. I hurried after them, not wanting to be left behind. We stopped at a doorway. A guard was standing there. He stepped aside when he realized there were two royal members standing in front of him.

Once we were inside, my mouth dropped. The ceilings were high, the floor was shined, and the walls were decorated with beautiful paintings of landscapes. I heard Prince Liam chuckle.

"Wow, if you're shocked with this, I wonder what your reaction will be when we go through the rest of my home."

I glared at him. He didn't understand that I come from a village. Even though there's nice houses from Kakariko, none of them can even compare to what I've seen so far.

As we walked more and more through the castle, it just kept getting more shocking and shocking. Some rooms were nicer than others, but they were all amazing. I've even seen marble floors!

Suddenly, Grandfather stopped. "I need to go speak with a few people. Liam, show Sapphire around the rest of the castle and show her to a guest bedroom." With that, he walked off.

I looked at Prince Liam. He sighed. "I guess I have to show you around...fine. What do you want to see?"

I shrugged. "I don't really know much about this place...I only know a tiny bit from Father's stories of his adventure."

"Oh. Well...I'm not really sure what to show you. I guess I could just take you to where you'll be sleeping. You will see plenty of things on the way there. Besides, I have a feeling you'll be too occupied just with the bedroom alone."

"Umm, okay."

I followed his lead, and he was right about seeing a lot of things on the way there. I had a feeling that if I didn't have a guide, then I would become lost.

After going up a couple flights of stairs and many turns, we made it to a long hallway with only a few doors. We stopped at one.

Prince Liam spoke. "This is the guests' hallway. If you go that way-" he pointed to his left "- and take a left, you'll be on the servants' and maids' hallway. Keep going all the way down, take another left, mine and Grandfather's rooms are down there." He then opened the door. "And this is where you'll be sleeping for your time here."

Now, to say the bedroom was big would be an understatement.

It was HUGE. There was a huge bed, the biggest bed I've ever seen, against the left wall. It had red drapes on the sides of the tall railings of the bed, red covers with purple and gold designs, and gold pillows. A giant window with red velvet curtains was on the back wall. There was a large dark purple couch-like piece of furniture against it. On one side of the window was a giant chestnut wood dresser. One the other side was a tall mirror with a gold frame. Against the right wall was a large black vanity where make-up, brushes and combs, perfumes, and many other things were neatly placed on it. The walls of the room were painted a dark red and the floor was chestnut wood. There was a dark purple rug in the middle of the floor.

"Well, have fun. One of the servants will come get you when supper is ready. Oh, by the way, the bathrooms are right across the hall." Prince Liam walked away and dissapeared around the corner.

The first thing I did was walk over to the window. I was at least on the third or fourth story. Also, I had an excellent view of Hyrule Field. The sun was low, indicating it was late afternoon going into early evening, I touched the curtains in awe. They were soft to the touch.

"Impressed?"

I jolted at the sound of a voice I didn't recognize. I turned around and saw a middle-aged lady. She had grey hair tied up in a little ponytail with a few strays hanging out. She had red eyes, she was tall, and a bit muscular for a woman. Also her clothes were...strange, tight, and a bit revealing at the top.

"It's not polite to stare," the woman said curtly. I adverted my eyes. "Sorry. I didn't mean to."

"It's alright, just remember that next time. By the way, my name is Impa. I serve as a body guard to the prince."

I tilted my head slightly. "Impa..." The name sounded a lot like Impaz, but she didn't really look like her. Also, that name sounded really familiar...

"My name is Sapphire," I said softly.

"So I've heard. I've also heard that you came from Kakariko Village, did you not?"

I nodded. "Yes, I did."

"Hmm, is that so? I haven't been there in quite a while. How's it been?"

I shrugged. "Nothing's really changed, I guess. I don't really know."

"Mhm...well, it was nice meeting you, Sapphire. I look foward to seeing you at supper."

I just simply nodded as she left. Then suddenly, it clicked.

Impa was one of the sages Father had saved! I remember him talking about her, She was a sheikah. That's why she was dressed like that; it was her custom.

I could tell so far that the stay here, even if only for a short while, was going to be interesting.


	12. Chapter 12

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

After Impa had left, I took in the rest of my surroundings. The bedroom was absolutely beautiful. Did Father stay in a place like this when he lived here?

I sat down on the bed. It felt like it was made out of nothing but baby bird feathers. The covers felt silky underneath my fingertips. The pillows were thick and squishy. I really didn't know what to think of all this. I looked out the window and saw the sun starting to set. It was almost around the time I usually eat supper. No sooner than I had thought that, I heard a knock at the door. Even though it was open, a servant was standing there knocking on the door.

I stood up and walked over to her.

"Hi. Supper is almost ready. I was told to bring you down and get you seated."

"Oh, um...alright. Thanks...Miss..."

"Becky."

"Thanks Miss Becky." I smiled. She was nice. She had brown hair tied up in a neat bun and brown eyes. She was fairly tall and seemed to be around in her early twenties.

I followed her to wherever we were eating. On the way there, I saw this huge painting. But what had caught my eye about it was not the fact that it was huge, but it was a painting of a very familiar woman.

My mother.

In the painting, she had her hair neatly brushed out. She had a crown in her hair and was wearing a pink and white dress with golden shoulder pads.

"She's beatiful, isn't she?"

I glanced at Becky for a second. "Yeah."

"That's Prince Liam's mother. I never really knew her. She passed away when I was eight."

I didn't respond, since I already knew most of that information.

"You know, people could mistake you for her from the back," she said. I turned around and furrowed my brows.

"I'm serious. It's kind of scary, actually, knowing you're not related to the royal family."

Oh, how wrong she was.

I just shrugged, deciding to not say anything about it. If she didn't know, I wondered just how many other people didn't.

We eventually made our way to the dining room. It was fairly large. There was a long cherry wood table with a ton of chairs around it. Prince Liam and Grandfather were already sitting there, along with a few knights and a couple of maids. I didn't really know where to sit. Becky had pulled out a chair beside the prince and beckoned me over to it, so I assumed I was going to sit there. I sat down and thanked her. She walked out of the dining room.

I sat there in silence as everyone else chit chattered around me. Prince Liam tapped my shoulder.

"You look like a lost puppy."

I shot him a look. "Well, sorry for not knowing anyone or knowing what to do."

He rolled his eyes. "It was a joke. Calm down."

"I am calm," I retorted. I heard a bell ringing. Silence filled the room. A cook appeared and announced, "Supper is served." Right after that, more cooks and some butlers came in with dishes and silverware, setting the table. Then serving plates were brought out, filled with meats, breads, soups, vegetables, and fruits. My mouth dropped. There was so much food! But then again, there were a lot of people that needed to eat.

Cooks began stuffing everyone's plate with plenty of food. I couldn't even see the bottom of my plate once they were done. I had two cuckoo legs, peas, cuckoo noodle soup, a slice of rye bread with butter, and grapes on my plate. It was definetely way more than I usually eat for supper. I picked up my spoon and prodded it.

"Is there something wrong with it?" Prince Liam asked me.

I shook my head. "Well, no, but it's...so much food. I won't be able to eat all of this."

I heard him chuckle. "That's fine. Nobody usually finishes."

I glanced at him. "Then why do they make so much?"

He shrugged. "I think they give the leftovers to the animals." He scooped up some of his peas and ate them.

"Oh." After a few more seconds, I took a gentle bite of a cuckoo leg. Once I finished chewing it, I started to notice people staring at me. I heard a couple of whispers. I set the cuckoo leg back down on the plate and looked around with my eyes. Was there a problem with my eating? Was there something on my face?

"Why is everyone staring at me?" I whispered to Prince Liam.

"Maybe because you're...new?" He sounded unsure of himself.

I heard the king let out a cough. Suddenly, everyone started eating again. Well, everyone except for one person.

A man sitting straight across from Grandfather kept staring. He looked at me, then at Prince Liam, back amd forth, back and forth. He caught my eye once, and I quickly looked away and comtinued eating. Well, until I heard him speak.

"So, Prince Liam...it almost seems like you found a suitor."

The next thing I knew, Prince Liam was choking on his food. I would have, too, if I had of swallowed any bit later. Gasps filled the room. He pounded his fist at his chest and eventually got the food dislodged. He took a quick sip of his drink and let out a sigh.

"No, no," he shook his head wildly. "She's most definetely NOT a suitor, Sir Pachie." He took another sip of his drink and let out another cough. People had their eyes wide open. They were still in shock that their prince almost chocked completely.

The rest of supper went by without any other interruptions. There were still a few people who stared at me every now and then, but other than that, it went by fine. Nobody really talked about anything important. I only ate half of my food before I was full, and I wasn't even aware of dessert. There was a few pies brought out. They were either blueberry or cherry. I ended up not getting any, despite the cooks' request that I get a piece. I just simply told them that if I ate another bite, my stomach would explode due to fullness.

Once dessert was over, Becky came back and escorted me to my room, where she lit a few candles so you could see the dark room. I thanked her.

"There are nightgowns in the dresser if you need any."

"Thanks, Miss Becky."

She left and closed the door behind her. I wasn't really ready for sleep yet, but I decided to get dressed for bed anyway. I decided to look in my bag instead, since Impaz probably packed one for me.

Which I was right.

I slipped on my own nightgown and went over to the giant window. I looked down and realized that the ground was dark, except for one little light. That little light was moving. I squinted my eyes to see why it was moving. It was a male figure holding a candle, I could tell for sure. The man turned around multiple times, as if he were looking for something. Than he ran a bit, stopped, and ran again. I realized he was headed towards the entrance gate, which was pretty close to my window. I wondered if I would be able to make out a face.

I waited for the man to get to the gate. Once he did, he stopped and looked around again. I looked very closely, then gasped.

It was Prince Liam.

I watched as he dissapeared past the gate and ran off. Wait...wasn't the gate closed?

*Liam's P.O.V.*

Phew, made it.

I was sneaking out towards Castle Town to see my dear friend who I've known ever since I knew how to sneak past the guards and get past the gate. There was a door beside it that led up to a ladder, which took you to a very small cliff that you could jump off of unnoticed. Why it wasn't ever guarded, I'll never know, but ever since I figured it out, I've used it as part of my escape route ever since. Just so I could see her.

Maria.

She's been a very close friend of mine for a long time. Well, since I was ten. I had figured out how to sneak out and I decided to go to Castle Town to explore. But I had been attacked by wild stray dogs. Maria had found me and she took care of my scratches. Ever since then, we've been friends. I always told her everything, and she told me everything. There wasn't a thing we didn't know about eachother.

Except for one thing...I liked her. And I mean liked her. A lot.

I put out the flame on my candle and looked around. The guards that usually were at the entrance of Castle Town had retired for the night. There wouldn't be night guards for another couple of hours.

I found my way towards the fountian in the plaza, where she was waiting for me. Her medium lenghtlight strawberry colored hair shined in the moonlight, her full brown eyes shining just as bright. She smiled when she saw me and ran over towards me.

"Liam! You came tonight!"

I smirked. "Nah, it's just a ghost." She laughed.

"By the way, sorry I didn't come last night. Grandfather decided to take me all over Hyrule and we were out too late, so we stayed in Kakariko for the night."

"It's fine. But thanks for telling me." Maria smiled again. "Oh, there's something I want to show you!" She grabbed my hand and ran towards one of the alleyways where her house was. She left me in a spot and told me to wait there.

As I waited for her, I looked around. The alleyway was kind of spooky at night. There were many wall to wall houses and a couple of stray dogs running around. The moon was just getting higher up and was casting shadows. I heard a skultulla scurring around on top of one of the houses. A small breeze flew by.

"Liam."

I turned around and saw Maria holding a small puppy.

"Isn't he cute? My parents got me a puppy yesterday. I'm not sure what breed he is, but he looks almost like a miniture beagle."

I smiled. I loved animals, especially baby ones. "What's his name?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "I haven't decided yet. I was hoping you could help me decide. Here, want to hold him?" She lifted up the puppy and held him out towards me.

I grabbed the puppy and held him. His eyes were brown, almost the same color as Maria's. I looked at her. "Any names in mind?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know. I like the name George, or maybe Kirk...or Wesley...yeah I'm not sure. What do you think?"

I looked at the puppy. He had black and brown spots, a white belly, and a brown spot on his nose.

"Spot?"

Maria laughed and shook her head. "How original, Liam, how original."

"Well, hush. I'm not good with naming things."

"Me neither, that's why I'm asking for help."

"Would you young people go on somewhere? Us elders are trying to sleep!" A window slammed shut.

We stayed quiet for a moment. Maria took the puppy back. "I can't take him too far out. I have to wait for him to get older. I'll be right back." She left again.

I looked around for the window that the old person yelled out of, but I couldn't figure out the one it would be. Oh, well. Figures as much.

Maria returned and we walked out the alleyway and back to the fountain. She sat down beside it and I sat beside her.

"So, how was your trip?"

I shrugged. "It was nice, I guess. We went everywhere, except for Gerudo territory, of course. And the Forbidden Woods as well. We also planned on going to see the Gorons, but the guard that usually stands at the entrance wasn't there to open the gate for us. So we went to Lake Hylia, Lon Lon Ranch, Zora's Domain, and Kakariko Village, where we stayed the night."

"Cool. What's it like?"

"What?"

"Everywhere that isn't here." Maria hasn't been out of Castle Town before, because her parents were sort of over protective.

"Well...Lon Lon ranch is okay. The owner, Malon, is nice. She really takes care of everything there, and her two sons help out. There really wasn't anything at the lake but a crazy scientist. I don't even remember his name, it was so crazy."

Maria shook her head and laughed. "You think a lot of things are crazy."

I smirked. "No I don't."

"Uh-huh."

"Nope."

"Yes."

It went back and forth until eventually we were pretty much trying to push eachother into the fountain. We stopped when I had her almost in the water. I made sure she didn't fall in and helped her up.

Then I heard the metal clanging of the soilders.

My happy expression fell.

"What is it, Liam?"

"The night shift guards. They're early. I have to find a way out of here, now," I whispered. Her smile dropped as well.

"I know a way. Follow me."

We ran off towards a different alleyway. We stopped when we reached a ladder sort of thing.

"Here, climb up this. There's a tunnel there. You can crawl through and end up behind the guards. The trick is to stay as quiet as possible, though."

I raised an eyebrow. "How did you know about this?"

"I overheard it from those two crazy old twin guys I told you about a while ago."

"Oh." I looked around. "I'll try to be here tomorrow. I'm sorry if I can't. Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

I turned and climbed up the ladder. Sure enough, there was a tunnel that I could crawl through. At the end, there was a small ledge. Just around the corner were the night guards standing at the entrance to Castle Town. I looked around for the safest place to jump off to. When I jumped, though, I somehow managed to trip myself. I fell almost face first, but managed to flip somewhat and land on my back.

Thump.

"What was that?"

"I don't know; I'll scope it out."

I quickly scrambled up and ran like I had never ran before. If my own guards caught me outside the castle, Grandfather would have my head for sure. I made my way up the vines on the corner of the gate as fast and quietly as I could.

It wasn't fast enough.

"Hey, you, stop right there!"

Crap.

I climbed up faster, not caring about noise anymore. His call alerted the guard directly at the gate. Right after I got up on the ledge, I ran to the other side and jumped off. Luckily, there was a tunnel near me that I could hide in while they passed. Other guards patrolling were alerted to the commotion. I peeked out the tunnel and saw that most of the guards were running off in the other direction. I took this as my chance and ran to another set of vines across the mini field. I climbed up quickly, making it to the top before a few more guards ran by.

I waited a few moments before climbing up the nearby ledges leading up to near the top and back of the castle. The balcony that led to my room was right below me. I jumped and landed neatly. I let out a long deep breath. My heart was pounding from the excitement. That was a very close call. That wasn't the first time it happened, though. It happened once before, and I was almost caught. I had accidently tripped over a loose rock and fell into the moat while trying to climb the ledges to my balcony. I had managed to hide in the storage room at the back edge of the castle, luckily.

I opened the door and walked into my room.

"Nice of you to return, prince."

My heart leaped into my throat. Impa was standing in my room, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

"Oh, um, hello, Impa."

"Liam, what were you doing ouside the castle?"

I gulped. "How'd you-"

"I've suspected it for a couple of months, now. Besides, I just watched your little escapade with the guards. What's the meaning with that?" She crossed her arms.

I felt small. Even though Impa was my nurse/bodyguard, she still intimidated me. She was a Sheikah, after all, and they were not to be messed with.

"Umm..." I sighed. "Impa, I..."

"I won't tell your grandfather as long as it's not bad and if you don't do it again."

"It's not...bad, I suppose, but there's no way I can keep that promise." I turned my head away.

"And why is that?"

I didn't reply, but instead debated whether or not I should tell her.

"Liam."

I glanced at her.

"You really need to tell me what you've been doing outside the castle."

"...Why?"

"Whatever you're doing could be dangerous."

I glared at her. "What I'm doing isn't dangerous."

"Prove it."

I let out a sigh and sat on the couch beside the door to the balcony. My head fell into my hands.

"Impa, I...I've just been out in Castle Town, that's all."

"Doing what?"

"Something."

Impa let out a frustrated sigh. "Just tell me. If it isn't really dangerous, I can keep a secret."

I looked up. "You won't tell Grandfather? Will I be able to still go out?"

"No, and it depends."

I thought about it a little bit more. I could trust Impa, right?

"I've just been visiting a friend."

"A 'friend'? How do you know he isn't some spy?"

I jumped up. "SHE isn't a spy! She's nice and we know each other well enough to know she isn't a spy."

"She?" Impa smirked. "Someone got defensive rather quickly."

"So what?" I snapped, oblivious to what I had just done.

"So, it's not just 'visiting', rather more like seeing."

My eyes widened. "No, no, no, no, no, Impa, wrong idea. Completely wrong idea. We are NOT seeing each other...not at all. We're just friends." I sat back down.

She tilted her head. "My advice. I'd rather you not keep going out, but I'm not going to try and stop love."

My face turned red.

"But, what about when you leave? The king informed me of your upcoming departure. This battle against Ganondorf isn't going to be a breeze. I know this for a fact."

I had completely forgotten about that. I was going to have to tell Maria pretty soon...

Wait...

"How do you know that he won't be easy?"

Impa just shook her head. "That's a conversation for another time. You should be sleeping right now. You have a long week ahead." She turned around and left my room.

Sleep didn't come easy for me that night. I was too busy thinking about Maria and what Impa had said. I was going to have to tell Maria about everything else. I sort of didn't want to, though. I didn't want to worry her. But I really didn't have any other choice. Besides, I did really like her, and I could most definetely trust her.


	13. Chapter 13

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

I woke up to the sound of knocking on the door. When I opened my eyes, I almost gasped at the different scenery that wasn't my bedrom. Then I remembered that I was at the castle.

Someone knocked on the door again. I got out of the bed, walked to the door, and opened it. Becky was standing there.

"Good morning. Breakfast is being served in thirty minutes. I came up here to let you know so you could get ready."

"Oh, well, thank you."

Becky nodded and walked away. I closed the door and started digging through my bag. Impaz had packed a lot of different clothes for me to wear. I decided on a simple eggshell white dress. The sleeves were short and floppy and the skirt stopped right above my ankles. I put a dark pink vest over it. Then I pulled on some long white socks and my boots; they were my favorite pair of shoes and I wore them all the time.

I looked through my bag and pulled out my brush and some hairbows (*or "pony-tail holders", whatever. I'll call it whatever the heck I want*) and walked over to the vanity. I sat down in the chair and brushed out my hair. Surprisingly, there were no knots in it from where I had slept. 'I must have slept like a baby,' I thought. Once I brushed my hair, I pulled up half of my hair, leaving a little bit in front of my ears, and tied it back with a hairbow. I braided what I had tied back. Satisfied with my hairstyle, I put my brush and remaining hairbows back in my bag. I looked up and saw the table beside the bed. On the table was the necklace Rico had given me for my birthday. The blue sapphire stone was shining a bit in the morning light.

Rico had told me a while back that my eyes would shine when the light hit them, and that my name suited me well because of that.

Rico...

Memories of yesterday came rushing to me. So much had happened. But, only one thing stuck out in particular.

He had kissed me.

But why? I never thought Rico liked me in that way. I've always seen him as a friend. There had been times when I questioned that myself, though, but I always deemed it as hormones. Besides, I thought he would end up with Bethany.

Bethany...

She was right all along.

All the time, she would say things about Rico and I. Things I would say about her and Rico. Well, until Bethany had told me she thought Rico liked me. I never believed her. Until now, anyway. And she wasn't even alive to be able to say 'I told you so' like she would if I told her. But I couldn't.

Even Father figured it out, and he wasn't usually around us.

A knock interrupted my thoughts. I grabbed the necklace without thinking about it and opened the door. Impa was standing on the other side.

"Good morning. I'm talking you down for breakfast."

"Becky isn't?"

She shook her head. "No. I told her I would do it. Besides, I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, um, okay." I slipped on the necklace and closed the door behind me. We walked a little bit before Impa spoke first.

"So, tell me, you are from Kakariko Village, correct?"

I nodded. Didn't she ask me that last night?

"Do you know a person there by the name of Impaz?"

"Of course. She's my caretaker. Besides, everyone in the village knows her."

Impa looked at me. "Is that so? Then my suspicions are confirmed."

I raised an eyebrow. "Suspicions?" What did I do?

"You're Link's daughter, aren't you?"

"Yeah...? Why?"

Impa shook her head. "Nothing. You just look a lot like him, that's all."

I stopped walking. She knows something. She knew exactly who my father was. She was the only person so far to actually tell me this. Does this mean she knows everything else?

Impa stopped and turned around.

"Is something the matter, Sapphire?"

I stood silent for a few seconds before speaking. "How do you know exactly who my father is?"

Impa smirked. "I believe you already know the answer to that question."

I tried to figure it out. I thought about anything that could've been said. I remembered Father's conversation with Grandfather two days ago that I overheard in the barn.

'The sheikah told me to leave. She told me that I had to take Sapphire here since she was a real sickly baby. When she handed Sapphire to me, she told me to not come back,' Father had said.

I looked Impa dead in the eye. "You were the sheikah that told Father to leave. You told him to take me to Impaz because I was sickly."

"So you do know." She crossed her arms. "That also means you know who you are, then."

I ignored the last statement. "Why did you do that? Doesn't the castle have doctors? How come Father couldn't come back?"

She sighed. "It's a long story. I'll tell you on the way to breakfast."

We continued walking.

"You see, the doctors here aren't exactly...good with certain types of sickness. They have a limit on how much they can do. And what I'm about to say may sound harsh, but it's the truth."

"What's that?"

"Zelda would have lived if it were just Liam being born."

*Impa's P.O.V. FLASHBACK!* (*WARNING: if you don't want to read childbirth scenes, skip ahead to the next chapter (whenever I put it up...) you'll just miss how Zelda dies from childbirth and why Impa sent sapphire and link away. I'll just restate it next chapter so you wont miss out on important info*)

It had been a bright sunny day that day. Nothing had been going wrong; the usual schedual went by. The only differences were that Zelda would be giving birth in a few weeks and everyone was busy planning for Link and Zelda's wedding. It would take place a month after Zelda had her baby. People were wondering if it would be a boy or a girl. Zelda and Link had both been hoping for a boy, but everyone knew they would be happy with either.

It was late afternoon when I had been walking out in the courtyard, when all of the sudden Link had ran up to me. His face was flushed and worry was clearly written across his face.

"What's wrong?"

"Zelda...something's wrong."

We ran up to her room. She was screaming and holding her swollen belly. I ran up to her and asked her over and over what was wrong.

"Impa...the baby...it's coming!"

Needless to say, I had been shocked. "But it isn't due for a few weeks!"

"Do you think I don't know this?" She snapped and cringed in pain again. A servant appeared in the doorway.

"What's happening?"

I told them to let the king know that the baby was coming. I helped Zelda onto her bed looked at Link, who's face was ghastly white.

"Link, I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside."

"But-"

"Now!"

He sighed, nodded, and left, closing the door behind him. Zelda screamed again. Even though I was no nurse, I knew what I had to do.

The servant from earlier walked in the room. "I let King Daphnes know. I went ahead and grabbed the necessary materials as well." She was holding a few towels and scissors for cutting the umbilical cord.

"Thank you, Sophia. Oh, and can you lock the door?"

She nodded.

The sky had turned to night. I heard heavy raindrops hitting the window. Thunder roared in the distance. Something told me that wasn't a good sign.

"Alright, Zelda, you have to push."

I didn't need to tell her twice.

"Wait, Impa."

I looked at Sophia. "What do you mean, wait? She's already in labor!"

"She isn't ready to push yet. If you make her do it now, she'll be too weak to deliver."

I sighed. Sophia was right.

Zelda's face was already drenched in sweat. "Impa..." she said weakly. "It hurts..." Her voice whined a bit.

"Shh...I know...I know..."

"But you don't have children, so how do you know?" She was taking in deep breaths.

Sophia pulled Zelda's hair away from her face. "You don't have to have children to understand the pain of childbirth." She looked at me.

"It's time now."

Thunder crashed again.

Zelda screamed in pain. Sophia and I cheered her on.

"Come on, you can do it!"

She screamed and pushed a final time before we were able to grab the newborn baby and cut the cord. Sophia pinched it to make it take its first breath. It let out a loud cry.

I looked at the baby and smiled at Zelda.

"Congragulations, Zelda, it's a boy. Just like you wanted."

Zelda smiled weakly. "It's...a boy..." She let out a breath of satisfaction.

Sophia started cleaning the new baby boy. "Do you have a name for him, princess?"

"We decided on...Liam Gregson...Link likes that name a lot..."

"Liam Gregson Hyrule, huh?" I smiled. "A handsome name."

Zelda smiled a little wider. "It has a nice ring...doesn't it? Can...Link come in...to see his son?"

I nodded. "As you wish." I was about halfway to the door when she screamed. I ran back over to her. Sophia's eyes went wide and she looked at me.

"Impa, this isn't good. If she's having twins..."

Zelda was breathing heavily again. "Is there...another one?" She struggled to get the words out before she screamed in pain again.

More thunder. The rain started to pour.

That definetely wasn't a good sign. Sophia set the baby Liam in a safe place and rushed to Zelda. She placed her hands on Zelda's still swollen belly and gasped.

"Twins...there is most definetely a twin." She looked at me. "Impa, she's already so weak. She may not have enough strenghth to even start delivering.

"Impa..." Zelda's eyes were wide with fear. "Am I...going... to die?"

I stared at the ground. Sophia didn't say anything, either.

"Impa?" I heard her starting to cry.

I shook my head. "You have to push on. You have to do it!"

A few moments later, a head was out.

"Great job, Zelda! You have to finish now!"

No response. No scream, push, or anything. Nothing.

"Zelda?" I looked at her. Her eyes were closed and she was barely breathing.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared.

I shook her a little bit. "Zelda, come on!"

She barely opened her eyes. "I...can't...do it...Impa..." Her voice got softer and softer with each word.

"Yes, you can! You have to!"

Sophia spoke up. "Zelda, you have to push, or the baby could die."

Zelda sighed and nodded very weakly. She took in deeper breaths and looked at me.

"Impa...if I...die..." She screamed again. This time, the baby was out. I smiled.

"See, Zelda, I told you that you could do it!"

I looked at her. Zelda's eyes were closed again. The difference this time...

...She wasn't breathing.

"Sophia...she's not breathing..."

"Check her pulse! Find a way to see if she's alive. She needs to be."

I checked her pulse. I held my finger over her mouth to check for breath.

Nothing.

"Great Goddesses...she didn't make it."

"Impa, I think we have a bigger problem. The baby isn't strong enough to cry."

"What?" I rushed over to Sophia. As she had said, evem though the baby was breathing, they were shallow breaths and there wasn't a sound of crying.

"She may not last very long. I don't know how to prevent her from dying, and I know this is beyond our doctors' medical practice; they would just let her die because they won't know what to do.

Suddenly, I thought of my relative from Kakariko, Impaz. She had been trained in all kinds of medical practice.

"I know where to take her, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone."

"Why is that? This is the princess' daughter! You can't just take her somewhere and not expect it to be a problem."

"I have a plan. I have a relative in Kakariko who can save her. But she won't be able to come back. Once King Daphnes finds out Zelda has passed, he's going to go after Link out of anger. I'll send Link along with the baby to Kakariko to my relative. That way, the baby will be saved amd Link can avoid King Daphnes' anger."

"But why?"

I crossed my arms. "Remember the last time the king was angry at something so simple? That guy was hung. If King Daphnes can't control his anger this time, Link's life would be at risk if he stays here and if the baby even made it to Kakariko by transport. Link should take her and go. No child should be raised as an orphan if it can be helped."

"But Liam will be an orphan, right?"

I shook my head. "The king is their grandfather. Even though he'll have to wait on passing down the throne, I'm pretty sure he can handle raising his grandson."

Sophia sighed. "Fine. I understand your point. I won't say a word."

"Good. If anyone knows about this baby being born, she was stillborn. As for Link not being here anymore...he ran away in grief to who knows where." I took the baby and headed out the door. King Daphnes was standing a little ways away. When he noticed me, he rushed over.

"How is she? Is that my new grandchild?"

I took in a deep breath. "Your majesty...Zelda has passed. She had twins, but only one made it. This one was stillborn. I'm taking her down to the doctors to see if they can find a reason for it. Your new grandson is in there."

I hated lying to him, but it had to be done. The childs life needed to be saved.

"What? My daughter...she's dead?"

I nodded solemnly.

"Once I'm done here, I'm gonna kill him! He did this to her!" King Daphnes turned angrily and went into the room.

I ran as fast as I could to Link's quarters. I assumed this is where he would be, since he wasn't out there. Besides, it was just down the hall. I knocked on his door.

Once he opened the door, he immediately noticed I was holding the baby. He looked up at me with surprise. "I thought-"

"Take her. Take her and go!"

"But-"

"Your daughter is very weak. Take her to Kakariko Village. I have a relative there by the name of Impaz. You need to take your daughter to her before it's too late."

"What happened to-"

"She is dead. Now go! Do not waste any time!" I handed him the baby and pointed in the direction of the main entrance of the castle. "Whatever you do, do not return!"

He nodded, tears in his eyes, and ran.

Now to wait for the king.

A few minutes later, King Daphnes showed up.

"Impa? What are you doing here? I thought you took-"

"I did. Have you forgotten I am a sheikah? I can transport anywhere. The doctors couldn't find a cause. They're going out to bury her."

"Why won't they wait until we properly bury Zelda?"

"Remember, they have to be somewhere tomorrow." That one wasn't a lie for once.

"Fine. Anyway, is Link in there?"

I shook my head. "I just told him the news. He ran away in grief. I don't know to where, though, or if he'll return."

*end of flashback*


	14. Chapter 14

*Okay, if you decided to skip over that part about childbirth, basically, if you haven't figured it out now, Zelda died from childbirth. Impa told Link to take Sapphire and leave because otherwise he could be in huge trouble with the king and Impaz was the only person who could help Sapphire as a baby cause the castle doctors wouldn't be able to. Yerp. Okay, bye*

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

"Wait...so, basically, I would've died if you hadn't of done what you did? And Father might have been in serious trouble if you hadn't of made him leave?"

Impa nodded.

I stopped walking. It was too much of a shock. To find out all of this...and also, my mother would've lived if I wasn't Liam's twin.

Impa looked at me solemnly. "I know, it's depressing, but at least you are alive. Impaz must have taken good care of you."

"Yeah," I muttered. "She has."

"Anyway, there is something else I want to talk to you about before we head into the dining room for breakfast."

I wasn't even sure if I wanted breakfast anymore.

"I have a task I want you to perform."

I tilted my head slightly. "A task?"

Impa nodded. "Yes. You see, Liam has been sneaking out at night."

So that was him I saw!

"I caught him and asked him, but he didn't really give me much information as of what he was doing. He says he's visiting a friend."

"How come people aren't allowed to come and go as they please?"

Impa sighed. "Not all people are kind or trustworthy. We learned this the hard way with Ganondorf, and if Link is your father, you should know what happened. He's quite the storyteller, after all."

I let out a small laugh. "Yeah, but I love his tales of his adventures. They're so interesting."

"Indeed, they are. Anyway, as I was saying, the task I want you to do is to follow Liam and see what he is doing with this 'friend' of his."

"Wait...follow? As in, without being seen?"

"Yes. It shouldn't be too difficult for you."

I smiled nervously. "There's a teensy problem."

Impa looked at me. "What?"

"Well, you see, I'm not exactly...stealthy. I'm not good at sneaking around at all. I never have been."

Impa looked surprised. "Is that so?"

I nodded. "I can't sneak up on Father, on my friends, not even children. Impaz says it's because I'm heavy-footed."

Impa nodded. "You must take after Zelda. She was never been good at that, either. But you should still try. If you get caught, they'll just bring you to me. Besides, you have an important quest coming up, am I right? You'll need to be good at stealth."

I sighed. "Oh, alright."

We entered the dining room. Everyone was already there, except for us. There was an empty seat beside Prince Liam, where Impa decided to sit, so I took the empty seat by that man who thought I was a suitor. He watched me as I sat down.

Breakfast was served as soon as I sat down. There were pancakes, waffles, muffins, and fruits brought out. It was so much food, like last night. I just poked at it with my fork, though; I had pretty much lost my appetite after what Impa told me.

"Not hungry?" A voice to my right said.

I looked over and saw the man from yesterday. I remembered Liam calling him Sir Pachie. He seemed like a tall man. His hair was dark and pulled back in a small ponytail, along with a small mustache that sort of curled at the ends.

I shook my head in reply. "No, not really."

"Why not, girl? The food's not going to kill you."

I shrugged. "I'm not worried about the food. I'm sure it's delicious, but I'm just not really hungry right now."

"Well, you should eat up, or you're going to be starving by the time lunch comes around."

I sighed and set down the fork. I picked up a grape and ate it.

"You're left-handed?" Sir Pachie spoke again.

I nodded slowly with a sort of awkward look. Why was that so amazing to him?

"How interesting. I've only known a couple of left-handed people, and that's including the prince."

"Oh." This man talked a lot...

"The other person I knew that was left-handed was this swordsman...oh, what was his name...I can't remember it off the top of my head. He had an unusual name. Anyway, he lived here for a few years. He was really talented at swordplay, that's for sure. Best I've ever seen. He was training to be a knight, I believe, and I think he was dubbed one soon after. He was also engaged to Princess Zelda, too! I remember leaving for a vacation, coming back, and he was gone. No one knows why he dissapeared, though, as far as I know. The rumors are that he left because the princess cheated on him."

I just shrugged. I knew he was talking about Father. But some of what he said wasn't true.

"It's a shame I can't remember his name...was it Luke?"

'Nope...try Link,' I thought.

"Eh, close enough to it. You don't talk much, do you, girl?"

"Only if I have something to say," I said non-chalantly.

"Oh. Neither did that guy. I mean, he talked, but only around his friends usually..."

It was from there when I just tuned him out.

*Author's note* Yeah, sorry it wasn't much, and that it was a filler. It's been too long since ive updated and idk how to continue it from there with the idea I have in mind. So, next chapter, expect something better. anyway, random thanks for reading and comments! OH, and if anyones noticed any plotholes, let me know!


	15. Chapter 15

(Omg, sorry for super late update! I hadn't realized I didn't post the chapter up, even though I had it saved in my documents.I am so sorry for that. I really had updated on time, but didn't post it. Fail on my part.)

*Liam's P.O.V.*

After breakfast, Grandfather called over me and Sapphire to talk.

"We're going to start preparations for your quest today. You two are going to be training until lunchtime. After lunch, Liam, you are going to continue training; Sapphire, you're going to be fitted for a tunic. I doubt you'll want to go on this adventure in a dress. That will probably take a couple of hours. After that, Sapphire, you'll do a bit of training with Impa, and Liam, you have your duties to do. Then just find something to do afterwords. As for the rest of the week, it's going to be the same, except take out the fitting and replace it with continuing training. Are we clear?"

I nodded, and saw Sapphire do the same.

"Good," Grandfather smiled. "I will see you two at lunch." He turned away and walked off.

I started to make my way to the courtyard, where I've always had my training. But I stopped when Sapphire called my name.

"What?" I asked her.

"Um...where am I supposed to go?"

I sighed. "Follow me. I usually train in the courtyard." I started walking again, but stopped. "Oh, by the way, we will pass some guards on the way there. I suggest that you don't speak unless spoken to. Understand?"

"I wasn't even planning on it in the first place," she muttered.

"Good."

We started to make our way to the courtyard. To get there, we oviously had to get outside. There, we had to walk a bit through the outside perimeter of the courtyard to get to the part where I train, which was circular. A few guards looked at Sapphire suspiciously, but since she was walking with me, they didn't question it.

Once in the circular courtyard, I saw two knights standing there. I recognized both of them. Their names were Ambrose and Ezekius. Both were at the top of the knights; they were the best of the best. Ambrose had been my trainer ever since I started learning the art of swordplay.

Ambrose was tall and had greying dark hair that sat on his shoulders. Ezekius was about my height and had blonde curls sitting on the top of his slender head.

"Your highness," Ambrose spoke and bowed, along with Ezekius.

"Good morning to both of you," I said politely.

Ambrose spoke again. "King Daphnes told us about the situation. I can't believe Ganondorf has broken out of his seal that was meant to last a very long time. I had believed the sages were more powerful than that."

"Well, maybe it wasn't the sages' fault he broke out," I suggested. It just popped in my mind, and it seemed likely.

"Perhaps," Ambrose nodded, "But you can't be sure of that. Anyway, hey, you." He looked at Sapphire, who looked up shyly.

"Your name is Sapphire, correct?"

She nodded.

"My name is Ambrose, and this is Ezekius." Ezekius just waved. Ambrose continued. "The king says you have talent in swordplay. Mind if we test your skills?"

"Um...sure."

I wondered how this would turn out. Sapphire was a good swordsman based on what I remember from my embarrassing expierence yesterday, but then again, the knights were most likely better.

They handed her a sword. She held it and stared at it.

"A real sword? What if we accidently hit eachother?"

"Surely you've dueled with a real sword before."

She looked down. "I have, but only with my father. He's the one who taught me and I know his moves well enough to be able to duel with him."

Ambrose sighed. "Look miss, when you have to fight other people or monsters, you will have to use real sword. It doesn't matter whether or not you know their moves, but what matters is that you need to stay alive. Now, we will duel with real weapons. I promise I will not hit you on purpose. All you have to do is pretend I'm an enemy and fight." He lifted up his sword and held it in front of his face while preparing his stance. Sapphire cautiously lifted up her sword and steaded herself.

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

The sword was a bit heavier than the one I used at home to duel Father with. I would be able to manage, though. It wasn't that big of a deal. What I was worried about was that Ambrose, like most people, was right-handed. I've only dueled with left-handed people, and they were Father and Prince Liam. Father had once tried to get someome to teach me how to duel people who were right handed, but nobody would offer to teach me for him. Father even tried himself, but he isn't exactly ambidextrous.

I was ripped from my thoughts with a sword suddenly thrusted near my abdomen. I quickly blocked it off due to my quick thinking and reflexes. It was like that for a bit. He was attacking, and I was blocking. It was much like the duel I had with Prince Liam.

"I see you're more defensive than offensive. That could be a problem," Ambrose spoke above the clangs of the metal.

Well, it would help if I could get a break from defending!

While blocking his attacks, I saw a shield lying behind him. Even though I have barely ever used one, I knew how to handle them pretty well. The next time Ambrose attacked, I rolled away and ran for the shield. I picked it up and readied myself for more attacks. During that time, Ambrose had also picked up a shield and was already charging at me. I brought up the shield and blocked his attack. His moves were pretty repetitive. I was starting to figure them out. Until he brought up a whole new move. Instead of thrusting or swinging side to side, Ambrose brought his sword over his head and swung it down. I quickly held my shield over my head to protect it. I felt the sword hit it with a strong force. I pushed the shield, along with the sword, up and over to my right. I finally got a chance to swing, but he blocked it.

"Good job," he muttered. "But we're far from over."

The same process from earlier repeated. I was getting tired. Not from the duel, but from the repeteated process. I decided to try and end it. The next attack he brought, I blocked it and pushed it away, then rolled around him. I quickly stood up and brought my sword close to his neck. Father taught the move to me about a year ago. He called it the back slice. But normally, if I had done the complete move, I would've jumped and spun in the air.

Ambrose almost turned around to attack, but stopped when he saw just how close I had my sword to his neck. He let out a puff of air and smirked. "Good job, Sapphire." He stepped away and turned around so he could face me. "That move...it seems familiar. You say your father taught you, correct?"

I nodded.

"I assume that's not all he taught you."

I shook my head. "No, there's plenty more, but it was difficult to try them because you do nothing but attack. I hardly got a chance to attack you back. So saying that I'm more defensive...you can't know for sure because you never gave me a chance to attack."

Ambrose smiled. "You learned something already today, and it's hardly been over five minutes. I attacked like that on purpose to see just how good the king says you are. A good swordsman would've been able to overcome the fact that I was doing nothing but attacking, but still would've won in the end. You did just that. I also noticed two other things. First, you're left handed. A left-handed swordsman isn't very common, especially one as talented as you. You remind me of an old friend. He was left-handed and very, very good at swordplay. Second, let me see your hand."

I slowly held out my hand. He held it gingerly and stared at it.

"So I wasn't hallucinating after all. This is why you're here, isn't it? Since a piece of the Triforce has found its way to you, you have the task of re-sealing Ganondorf. I guess you have been blessed with courage?"

I shrugged. "I think so."

"It makes sense." He let go of my hand.

"Yeah," I muttered.

"I wonder what your father thinks about it. He let his daughter out to fight evil that could very well kill her..."

I shrugged, not knowing whether I should tell him or not.

"Tell me, do you have any siblings? If so, are they good with swordplay like you?"

I froze. How was I supposed to answer that question? I glanced at Prince Liam for a second. He was staring at me, as if he didn't know what to say either.

Ambrose glanced back and forth between me and the prince, seeming like he sensed unspoken words. "Well, we should get started anyway. The two of you will take a lap around the oustside of the castle. Sapphire, I don't know how well you can run in a dress, but you will have to try. Wear a tunic tomorrow, if possible. You two will have to build up a lot of stamina for the journey, so hurry up and get started."

I saw Prince Liam start jogging away. I hurried to catch up with him. Once we were jogging on the outside, he started talking.

"What are you going to tell Ambrose about the whole sibling thing?"

"I don't know," I responded, "but he seems to know Father from a long time ago."

"Oh. Speaking of him, what's it like living with him?"

"Living with him?"

"Yeah. Look, I may seem close-minded and ignorant, but I've been sheltered here my whole life. When we came to Kakariko a few days ago, that's the first time I've ever been outside the castle grounds. Sure, I've been to Castle Town, but that doesn't count. I don't know what it's like to live in a life that's...well, not mine. And seeing that Link is my father too, and not knowing it or him, I want to know what it's like."

I was shocked by his mini-speech. Yes, Prince Liam acted close-minded and ignorant, but I never thought of a reason why.

"Well, village life isn't pure comfort like the castle, but it's like one giant family there. Even though we all aren't related, we look out for eachother and things like that. As for living with Father, I've never known different. So, what exactly are you asking?"

"What's he like?"

"Um...well, he's a quiet person. He doesn't talk much around people he isn't close to. He knows a lot of things about Hyrule and Termina from his adventures."

"Termina?"

"Yeah," I huffed. "When he was ten going on eleven, a little while after he was sent back in time, he went to Termina. The whole story is a bit complicated, but in a deku nutshell, the moon was being possesed by a demon mask thing and tried to crush the town. Father had to use the power of the Song of Time to travel back and forth inbetween three days to stop it. I'll tell the whole story later."

"Okay." We rounded the corner and kept jogging. I was getting a little tired. The castle was huge on the outside, and the perimeter was just...wow.

"Hey, when did you start learning how to use a sword?" He asked.

"Well, I've always had an interest in them since I was really little, but Father wouldn't start training me until I was eleven. He wanted me to gain enough strength before I started to use one."

"Gain enough strength? Usually, a child of about seven or eight could carry a sword and use it properly...for their age, anyway."

I let out a chuckle. "I wasn't the healthiest of children. I used to have asthma really bad. It got much better as I got older. When I was little, probably around eight, I had a bad asthma attack. Father would hardly let me do anything after that. But my friends helped me work on getting rid of it by just working out my lungs better and a lot of exercise. It took a long time, but it eventually went down and I haven't had a problem since. Once Father found out, he was a bit angry for a while, but ended up letting me train. I was eleven by then."

"It seems he is a bit protective. I'm surprised he allowed you to do this so easily."

"He has a lot of trust in me. And he was protective of me until I learned how to use a sword. So I wouldn't be surprised. I'm pretty responsible, after all."

"Mhm."

We finished the run in silence. Once we got back, Ambrose and Ezekius had more exercises for us to do before we did some training. Before I knew it, Prince Liam and I were being called inside for lunch. For lunch, there were sandwiches and other lunch foods being served. Unlike breakfast and supper, there wasn't a large crowd. It was just me, the prince, the king...or Grandfather, and a few other people I didn't recognize. Once I was done, a servant called for me. I remembered I was supposed to be fitted for a tunic...but what did it mean to be fitted?

*author's note* muahaha...Sapphire's in for a surprise! Am I the only one who thinks so? I am? *sigh* okay...wait! I'm the author! I know she's in for a surprise! ...yeah, I know I'm not funny. Don't laugh at my failure. so anyway, let me know your thoughts on this chapter! byezzz!


	16. Chapter 16

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

I followed the servamt out of the dining room. On the way around the castle, I asked her a question.

"Um, miss...what does it mean to be fitted?"

She looked at me with surprise. "You mean you've never been fitted for a dress or anything?"

I shook my head. "No, I just usually buy them from merchants."

"But what if they don't fit properly?"

I shrugged. "I've never worried about that. Besides, I don't have a need to."

"Really?" She still looked surprised. "Well, since this is your first time being fitted, I'll tell you this; it is a bit awkward if you're not used to it. We have to take measurements of your body to see how we need to make the clothes fit properly. And since you're being fitted for a tunic, it won't take as long as it would if you were being fitted for a dress."

'Measurements of my body? Why don't I like the sound of that...' I wondered as we approached a door that said "fitting room" on a sign hanging from a nail. The servant lady opened the door and walked in. I followed her in. But as soon as I stepped in, I stopped in my tracks and gasped.

In the middle of the room, there was a brunette girl about my age standing there. There were servants standing around her, wrapping these things around her body and shouting out numbers. Not only that, but she was completely naked.

I quickly turned around and stepped out the room. The servant that led me here poked her head from around the door frame.

"You can come in, you know."

I shook my head. "Um, no thanks...I can wait."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded vigorously. I didn't want to be in there with a naked girl.

"Okay." She closed the door.

'Are they going to do that to me, too?' I thought. Well, the lady did warn me that it would be a bit awkward.

About five minutes later, the brunette girl walked out. She had on a pink dress that looked a bit fancy to just wear on an uneventful day. She looked at me and smiled, then walked away. I then noticed something strange about her; her ears. They were short and rounded, not long and pointed.

The servant beckoned me inside the room. I followed reluctantly.

"That was Anastasia, if you were wondering. She was here for her monthly fitting," she said as she fiddled with something rope-like.

I didn't know if I should've asked, but I did. "What's wrong with her ears?"

"Her ears? Oh, that. Anastasia isn't a Hylian. She's just a human."

"But aren't Hylians humans?"

She laughed. "Yes. But Hylians differ a bit from just normal humans. We have special properties that makes us Hylian. Just like how Gerudo people have their qualities. They are human, too, just different from normal ones."

"Sort of how like there are different breeds of animals?"

"If you put it that way, then yes. Now, let's hurry and get you fitted." She pushed me towards the middle of the room. The other women rushed to get all of my clothes off. I didn't even have time to react. The next thing I knew, I was standing there, naked. My face was flushed and heated. They started wrapping these rope-like things with marks on them and shouting out numbers. Once they were done, they handed me my clothes. I quickly pulled them on. While pulling them on, I realized something.

"My necklace..." I knew I had it on at lunch. Had they taken it off with my clothes?

"Excuse me , miss?"

"Where is my necklace?" I asked, pulling on my vest.

One woman looked around and picked something off the ground. "Is this it?" From her hand dangled a black string with a teardrop-shaped sapphire attached to it.

"Yes!" I said excitedly. I then let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. She smiled and handed it to me.

"It's very pretty. It matches your eyes."

"Thank you." I smiled wide and slipped the necklace on. I held the stone in my hand. Evem though I recieved it only a few days ago, I felt attached to it. 'Is it because Rico made it?' My mind wondered. I cleared my head of the thought.

"Where did you get it?" She asked me full of wonder.

"A...friend made it for me on my birthday."

"How sweet. When is your birthday?"

"It was a few days ago."

"Oh, really? So was Prince Liam's. What a coincidence."

I shrugged. "I guess..."

There was a knock on the door. Thanking the goddesses for the interruption, I saw Impa peek her head inside.

"If you are done, I need Sapphire to come with me."

"Yes, Impa, of course!" Someone said. I quickly made my way out of the room.

"So, how was that expierence?" Impa asked me.

"Awkward," I said bluntly. "Does everyone in the castle have to go through that?"

She chuckled. "The women do. Except for me, of course. I am much more comfortable in my traditional Sheikah wear."

"The men don't?"

She shook her head. "They're not exactly built like women, Sapphire."

"Yeah, I know that much. I was just wondering, that's all."

"They do have to get tailored for fancy suits, but not in the same way you would get fitted."

"Oh."

I followed Impa outside. I heard swords clanging and saw that Prince Liam was still training with those two knights. Well, at least until someone called out and told him it was time for his duties.

"Today," Impa began, "We will talk about stealth. Since you say you are bad at it, I will teach you. Sheikahs are masters at stealth, after all."

I nodded. i wondered if she would be able to teach someone as bad at stealth as I am.

As it turns out, she was able to teach me a bit. Even though I was still very far from being stealthy, I had gotten better. Impa taught me how to walk lightly and how to listen for the slightest sounds. The latter wasn't that difficult; I had inherited Father's sensitive hearing, after all...well, maybe not as sensitive as his, but I did have pretty good hearing.

"I want you to test out what I taught you tonight. Do you remember the task I told you about this morning?"

I nodded. "You want me to find out who Prince Liam has been sneaking out to see and what he has been doing."

"Excellent. You have good memory."

"Thanks."

"Now, if I'm correct, you have free time until supper, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think that's what I was told."

"You should spend some time in the library. You need to learn more about your quest. Things that you haven't already learned from your father."

"That I haven't?" I asked. "But Father has told me a lot about his journeys...I learned a lot from him."

"Did he tell you how to start?"

I nodded. "He said my best bet was to talk to the sages. He said something about an ocarina...that I had to use it to talk to them."

"Well, that is true, but you also need the three sacred stones. Do you know what those are?"

I searched my brain for anything of the sort. "Father once told me about three stones that opened up the Gate of Time so he could get the Master Sword."

Impa crossed her arms. "Well, he did tell you a lot, didn't he?"

As bad as I wanted to say 'I told you so', I kept my mouth shut.

"But, however, I do have a question for you. It's about the Triforce of Courage."

I tilted my head. "What about it?"

"Tell me what you know about it, first."

"Well," I started, "It's Farore's piece and she gives it to her chosen bearer. Father was chosen...yeah, that's all I really know."

"Is that so? Then tell me, do you know when a piece of the Triforce leaves it's bearer?"

I remembered stories of the Triforce that Father told me about when I was younger. "Well, if I remember correctly, it leaves when the bearer dies, or if the goddess who blessed them takes it away."

"I assume the latter happened to your father?"

I shrugged. "I guess so. He used to have the mark up until I was about twelve or thirteen. It wasn't that long ago. I remember one day seeing it, and the next day, it wasn't there. He said that Farore probably had her reasons and told me to not worry about it."

"So that's what happened...well, I should stop wasting your free time. Meet me here tonight when you see him leave, okay?"

I nodded. We bid our goodbyes. I made my inside and decided to take Impa's advice on going to the library.

Now...to actually find it.

I started by just walking through random hallways to see if I could find it. No luck. I also might have walked through the same hallways more than once.

I started bebating asking random people if they could point the way, but a "hey!" disrupted my thoughts.

I turned around and saw the girl from earlier running towards me.

"Hi!" She smiled brightly. "You're that girl that was standing outside the fitting room. I'm Anastasia!" She stuck her hand out for me to shake it. I did so, but slowly. I didn't even know this girl, but I could already tell there was something weird about her. She seemed way to...optimistic. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it was kind of creepy.

"I'm Sapphire," I said as casually as I could.

"Wow, so nice to meet you, Sapphire! Whatcha' doing?"

Was she already trying to be my friend? "Um, just trying to find the library-"

"The library? Cool! We can walk together! I've been meaning to find something to read, anyway. Hylian culture fascinates me!"

Yep, it definetely felt like she was trying to be my friend already.

She started walking. I hestantly followed. "So, Sapphire, why are you visiting the castle?"

"Um...well..."

"Oh, look, it's the prince! Hey, Liam!" She started waving. I looked over at him. He just waved back awkwardly. He looked busy; he was walking fast across the hallway and dissapeared into another one.

I heard Anastasia sigh deeply. "Isn't he just...oh, he's amazing. I don't know what life would be like without him."

'My mother would probably still be alive and I would probably be the princess if I wasn't born with problems,' I couldn't help but think. It seemed rather harsh, but it was true.

"I mean, isn't he dreamy, Sapphire?"

I gulped as we turned into the hallway Prince Liam just came out of. How was I supposed to answer this? "Uh..."

"I just hope my father is able to convince King Daphnes to let me marry him."

"Marry him?" I wondered aloud.

She nodded. "Oh, yes! It just sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Even though I'm not Hylian, I still think I could be a great queen! Especially with Liam as king. Well, it shouldn't be hard to convice the king. My father is a noble here. He can convince a lot of people for many things. I just hope thats one of them. I would just love to be queen. If I could only marry him now."

I raised an eyebrow. "But aren't you a little young to be worried about marriage?"

She glanced at me. "But I'm almost sixteen! You look like your not much older than me, either."

"I'm not. I just turned sixteen a few days ago." We turned into another hallway.

"Aren't you worried about marriage, then?"

I shook my head. "No. I have a few years before I will probably even think about it."

"Really? But don't you want to have a family soon?"

I shrugged. "I already have a family, though."

"I mean, like children."

I felt my face heat up. "No, no...I'm definetely too young for that." I laughed nervously. What was with this girl?

Anastasia smiled. "No, you're not! It's common for girls our age to get married and have children." We turned down another hallway. I swear, this castle was a maze.

"Hey, wait, did you say your birthday was a few days ago?"

I glanced at her and nodded.

"Oh, wow! So was Liam's! That's such a coincidence!"

I sighed. "So I've heard."

We passed by that painting of the princess that I passed by yesterday. I stopped and looked up at it.

So did Anastasia. "Oh, that's Liam's mother. She's beautiful, isn't she?"

Why did this feel like deja vú? Oh yeah...Becky said the same thing yesterday. "Yes, she is."

"He looks so much like her. It's a shame that he didn't get her beautiful eye color. Not that there's anything wrong with his eye color now. They are already a beautiful shade of blue, but the princess'...they are like sapphires. Oh, hey, your name is Sapphire! How funny!"

I looked at the ground. "Yeah, I guess." Did she have an obsession with the Prince of Hyrule? I started walking again. Hearing the clicks of Anastasia's heels, I assumed she did the same.

"You know, now that I think about it, you do kind of look like Liam."

"Do I?" I asked nonchalantly. It didn't surprise me that she said that. I mean, Rico said something similar to me. I guessed it was because he was always around me. And based on what I have learned so far, Anastasia is probably always around Prince Liam.

"Yeah. I wouldn't say a lot, but there's just something...I'm not sure what, but you do sort of look like him."

"Well," I started, just thinking aloud, "I look like Father more than he does-" I stopped immediately, instantly realizing my mistake. Anastasia stopped walking and stared at me, mouth agape. I looked around, hoping no one else was in the same hall. I still wasn't sure if I should tell anyone about that, and I had a slip of the tongue. 'Way to go, Sapphire,' I thought.

"Are you saying what I think you are saying?"

"So, um, yeah, if you could just point the way to the library, that'd be great..."

She shook her head. "There's something that I don't know about Liam that you obviously do! Tell me now!" She shouted.

Her mood changed quickly.

"Seriously, I'd like to get to the library..."

"I guess I'll have to force it out of you." She started running towards me. I sped off quickly. 'This girl is insane! I knew there was something weird about her!' I thought, running around the corner. I kept doing the same, not even caring that I would get lost. I heard her call out my name.

"Sapphire, get back here!"

I ran around some more corners. I passed some people who looked at me strangly, but I didn't really care. I rounded some more corners.

BAM!

I ran right smack into Prince Liam.

*author's note* whoop! that was a long chapter. so, what do you people think about anastasia? she's fun to write. and poor sapphire. she's had a rough day so far, lol. so yeah, let me know how this chapter was! Gracias.


	17. Chapter 17

*author's note* Yeah, sorry it's been a while since I've updated...well, I've had a somewhat busy week. Last weekend, I was at Disneyland with band (had fun, too) and wednesday, I went to Kings Dominion for my friends birthday (had lots of fun. got to ride the awesome Intimidator 305). the other days, I was working on The Forgotten Legend (my other story, obviously) sooo yeah. Now, on this rainy Saturday night, chillin at my grandma's house before I eventually fall asleep, I will start working on this story. So please don't kill me. thanks :3 Oh, and another thing. I wanna retry the character interview thing. (for my readers, this story is also on and i tried a character interview for fun a few months ago on there but nobody took an interest...) so yeah. I'll probably do it more towards the end, which will probably be a while, but if anyone is interested, send me some questions in my inbox and I'll make some kind of character interview. I really wanna do this cause it sounds fun and I can only do it with yalls input, so yeah. one last thing, I'm designing a character that will be introduced here in a few chapters but I can't pick a design. So, you guys, which sounds cooler for a fairy? White hair and green eyes or blue hair and grey eyes? Thanks :D okay, gonna start writing now. byyeeee :D

*Sapphire's P.O.V*

After smacking into Prince Liam, we toppled over to the ground.

"What in Din's name, Sapphire?" He spoke out, pushing himself up.

"Sapphire!" Anastsia's voice rang out through the hallway. "Get back here!"

He looked at me. "Was that Anastasia?"

I stood up and nodded. "Yeah, can you tell me the closest hiding place? That girl is insane and she's after me."

"Ah, that explains it. Come on, this way." He took off running down the hallway and I ran after him.

I lost track of exactly where we went, but the good thing is, Anastasia couldn't keep up and eventually gave up chasing us.

"Thanks," I huffed out, taking in and releasing deep breaths. "That girl...is crazy."

"Yes, I know." He wasn't breathing as deeply as I was, but the run did seem to wear him out. "What did you do?"

"Umm..." I sat down and leaned against the wall. "For one thing...that girl...Anastasia...is obsessed with you."

"Yeah, I realized that a long time ago."

I relaxed my breathing some so I could talk easier. "And she wouldn't stop. Like, everything we passed," I took in a breath, "she always found some connection with you. Like that painting of...our mother."

"The one in the main hallway?"

I shrugged. "I guess. I didn't know there was more."

"Yeah, there are a few. Anyway, so what did you do to make her come after you like that?"

"A slip of the tongue..." I muttered.

"Was it about me?"

I nodded. "Yeah, um, partially...somewhat."

"Yep. You have to watch what you say with her. You can't say too much about anything. She's quite the gossiper."

"Oh..." I said softly. 'I hope she doesn't go around talking about what happened earlier...' I thought. 'I guess I need to watch what I say more often.'

I stood back up after completely catching my breath.

"Are you alright?" Prince Liam asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you said earlier that you had asthma, so..."

"I had also said I haven't had problems in a very long time, so..."

"But you never know."

I shrugged.

"So, where were you headed before you got ambushed?" He asked.

I tilted my head. "You must not like her very much. And I was trying to find the library, but I'm not sure if I want to go now since she knows that's where I was headed."

"Well, it's not that I don't like her, she just gets on my nerves. A lot."

I chucked a bit.

"Anyway, I still have duties to do. I guess I'll see you at supper," Prince Liam said and walked away.

"Yeah." I murmured. I thought about what I was going to have to do tonight. The prince seemed like he was being nice to me now; I doubted that it would stay the same if I got caught by him.

*later*

After supper, I somehow found my way to the courtyard where Impa told me to meet her. She was standing there, waiting for me.

"Did you make sure he left before you came down?" She asked.

I stopped walking. "Um...oops?"

She let out a sigh that clearly expressed her frustration.

"I-I'm sorry, Impa, I kind of forgot..." I tried to apologize.

"Don't sorry about it," she said, "but, just remember that the fact you forgot could make a difference."

I nodded slowly with a guilty expression.

"Anyway, here. Change into this." She held out a bundle of dark clothing. "Sneaking around in a white and pink dress isn't exactly the best idea."

I took the clothes.

"You can change behind this bush. There is a wall behind it and I'm keeping guard in the courtyard tonight, so don't worry about anyone seeing you change."

"Um, okay..." I did as she said. The clothes Impa had given me was a pair of black tights, a black long-sleeved shirt, and a black dress that had no sleeves with a skirt that stopped at my knees. There was an intricate dark green design that stretched from my lower chest to my stomach. The outift was actually really comfortable, despite the fact that it was a bit tight. I pulled my brown boots over the tights and returned to Impa with my original outfit in hand.

"Good. It fits you nicely. I was worried it wouldn't fit at all. Now, you're going to have to tie your hair back somehow. You don't want it to get tangled in something and make it slow you down. I mean, it's pretty long, so it would be best to tie it up."

I nodded and took down the pieces of hair that were up. After smoothing it out some with my fingers, I pulled it back into a messy bun.

"That should do it. Now, sneak out into Castle Town and just spy on him. Return here when you think you have enough information to return with, or if he starts to return."

A question popped into my head. "I'm just wondering, and I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but if you already know that he's visiting someone, as you told me this morning, then why do I need to see what he's doing?"

"Like I had said, when I had caught him, he didn't give me details. All he said was that he was visiting a friend, and he made it very clear that this was a lady friend. I just want to make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid. Ever since Ganondorf almost took over, if it weren't for Link all those years ago, we have been very cautious about what information we give. In other words, we hardly trust anyone outside the castle now. People like your father won't always be around to prevent evil things from happening, so we just try our best here. And since you are going to be the next one to prevent Ganondorf from doing evil, it's better if you follow Liam. Think of it as practice for the real thing, whatever it may be."

I nodded. "I guess that makes sense."

"Well, you should head off. Just head that way," Impa pointed off to her right, "and it will lead you out of the courtyard. From there, you will figure out where to go. Good luck."

"Thanks." I turned and started to head off in that direction.

"Oh, and tuck in that necklace. I doubt you want that to get tangled in something."

I looked down and stared at the necklace. I reluctantly put it under the dress and shirt before finally heading off.

*author's note* yeah, sorry for leaving you with a cliffhanger and a boring filler chapter. But, the next chapter won't be boring, I promise! It will basically be Sapphire following Liam, but it will be exciting (i hope, anyway. depends on how i end up writing it) well, don't forget about the whole character interview thing if you're interested and the question i asked in the first authors note in the beginning before the chapter...you know...in case you missed the huge note...anyway, until next chapter, ¡adios!


	18. Chapter 18

*author's note* So, yeah...no one answered the two questions last chapter...so, I'll ask again. Do yall want to do a character interview? You can ask Sapphire, Liam, Impa, Link, Rico, and King Daphnes any question you want (and you can ask multiple questions if you want). Second question, which sounds like a better character design for a fairy? (it's an upcoming character...) blue hair and grey eyes, or white hair and green eyes? thanks :) i would really enjoy an answer.

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

After finding my way out of the courtyard, I saw a small field that had a gate on the other side. There were guards scattered across everywhere, and they didn't seem to be moving. I looked for the best place to run quietly to and did so. Luckily, no guards saw me, but I noticed most of them were in a different place than before.

'Well, as long as I move to different places before they do, I should be able to sneak past all of them,' I thought. Luckily and surprisingly, my plan worked out well. I managed to make it to the gate.

'Now what?' I wondered. 'I can't ask the guard on the other side to open it.' I looked around and saw a door conveniently placed. As quietly as I could, I opened the door to see what was inside. There was only a ladder that went up to an opening. Quietly closing the door back, I climbed up the ladder and peeked my head out at the top. There were no guards around, surprisingly.

'How come this is so much easier than sneaking up on Father?'

I climbed up and realized I was standing on top of the gate. I could see the tops of the houses in Castle Town.

'So, now I have to get down without being seen or heard...'

I saw some vines poking over the edge of a cliff about thirty feet away. I made my way over and made my way down as quietly as I could, then made my way to Castle Town to find Prince Liam. I noticed right away he was at the fountain right in the main square, talking to a red-headed girl. He seemed way into the conversation he was having with her. I crouched down and made my way behind a flower pot that was conveniently placed...

...but not without managing to stumble over a misplaced stone and falling face-first into the flower pot and knocking it over.

*earlier, Liam's P.O.V.*

I walked into Castle Town and didn't see Maria at the fountian. I assumed that I was just here earlier than usual and I sat down to wait.

"Oh, you're already here?"

I jumped up, Maria's voice surprising me a bit. I turned around and looked at her with a smirk.

"Oh, um, yeah."

She smiled. "Well, that hasn't happened in a long time." She sat down and I sat down beside her.

"So, did you name the pup yet?" I asked.

She nodded, a wide grin. "I named him Prince!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Prince? Oh, well, I didn't realize you were THAT fond of-"

She laughed and shoved me slightly before I got to finish the sentence. "Liam, you are so conceited," she joked. "But, anyway, yes, I named him Prince because the name suited him."

"I suppose it does. Anyway, there's something I need to, um...talk to you about."

Maria tilted her head. "What is it?"

"Well," I started, "First off, Impa caught me last night."

"Your bodyguard?"

"Yep. She wasn't really mad, but she is very suspicious of me. I told her I was just visiting a friend, but she accused you of being a spy. Don't worry, I stood up for you, but I don't think she likes the fact I'm coming down here to visit."

Maria frowned. "Does that mean...?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm not going to stop coming down here to visit you, but I thought I should let you know."

She smiled again, looking absolutely relieved. "Thanks for being honest. Is there anything else?"

I let out a breath. "Yeah."

Her smile faltered. "That doesn't sound good."

I looked off into the distance. "Well, I found out some things while I was in Kakariko. All of it's pretty unbelievable, too. I don't even get how I believe it now, but I do."

"What? What did you find out?"

"Well..."

Suddenly, I heard a sound coming from the way to the castle. I turned my head towards the sound and saw that one of the flower pots had fallen over. Not only that, but there was a body laying where it had fell. The person sat up and shook their head. A bunch of hair fell out of the person's hair-do. They lifted up their head and gave me a look that said, "Oops..."

Wait...was that Sapphire?

I stood up. "Sapphire, what in Din's name are you doing here?"

Maria stood up also. "You know her?"

I looked at her as Sapphire stood up, pulling the rest of her hair-do out and letting her long hair fall completely. I sighed. "Yeah, that's where I was getting at." I looked back at Sapphire. "And what in the world are you wearing?"

She looked at her outfit. "What's wrong with it?"

I shook my head. "Nevermind. Did you follow me?"

She took in a deep breath with a hesitant look. "Um...well, see, what happened was Impa-"

"Impa sent you?"

"...Yeah..."

I let out a frustrated growl. "I knew she didn't trust me!"

"It's not that she didn't trust you, it's more like-"

"She doesn't trust me, Sapphire."

Maria gave me a look. "Does anyone want to tell me what's going on?"

We both looked at her. I sighed. "Well...Impa did suggest I tell you this...so...Maria, meet Sapphire. My, um, long lost twin sister."

Her jaw dropped. "You have a twin?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that before SOMEONE interrupted." I sent a glare to Sapphire. She shrugged.

"So, you see," I continued, "In about a week, I won't be able to come down here for a while."

"But earlier you said-"

"I know, I know, let me get to that."

I told Maria, with some help from Sapphire, everything that happened while I had stayed in Kakariko. I told her about meeting my father, meeting and learning about Sapphire, witnessing the destruction of Ganondorf, and learning that Sapphire and I were to take him down.

After the explanation, Maria sat back down.

"So...you're leaving on a quest that could...kill you?" She asked quietly.

I swallowed. I didn't know how to answer that without lying or being honest.

"Oh, don't worry, miss!" I heard Sapphire say. "Prince Liam will come back to you. I'll make sure of it. Swordsman's promise." She crossed her heart with her right hand.

"Swordsman?" Maria asked.

I laughed nervously. "Yeah...about that...shockingly, the GIRL is going to be the main hero in this whole ordeal."

"And this GIRL will kick your butt in a duel again if you have a problem with it," Sapphire retorted.

Maria laughed. "Again? I wish I could have seen that duel."

Sapphire laughed also. "Oh, it was hilarious! All he did was swing his sword around. All I had to do was wait for him to tire out before I had him down on the ground with my sword pointed at his throat."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up."

"You're just mad that you were beaten badly by a girl."

I sighed.

Maria chuckled. "It's hard to believe you two are related, let alone twins. You act so differently, and you don't even look that much alike. The two of you are very fraternal, I suppose. Well, if I look close enough, I can see the resemblance. You have the same head shape and similar hair colors, though Liam's is a bit lighter than yours, Sapphire. And maybe the noses are a bit similar, but someone would have to really look to notice that."

"Well, I look like Father."

"I like my mother."

I looked at Sapphire. We had said that at the exact same time. She looked at me.

"That was weird," I muttered. "Anyway, we should leave before the night guards get here. Yesterday was a close call, and I don't want it to happen again. I'll see you tomorrow, Maria."

Maria nodded. "Alright. It was nice meeting you, Sapphire."

Sapphire smiled. "Same with you." She tied her hair back up.

We made our way back to the castle without any trouble from the guards, luckily. They were all probably dozing off standing there. Once we landed on my balcony, Sapphire spoke.

"She likes you."

I stared at her. "What?"

She gave me a look. "You can't be serious. That girl...Marie likes-"

"-Maria," I corrected, adding emphasis on the A.

"Whatever. She likes you. It's pretty obvious. And you know what else is obvious?"

I narrowed my eyes. "I already know what you're going to say, so don't bother." I headed towards my bedroom door.

"Oh, is someone in denial?" She taunted.

"No," I said simply, her earlier statement echoing in my thoughts. 'Does Maria really like me?'

"So you do like her?"

I turned my head to look at Sapphire. "I don't know, but if you're so smart, you figure it out."

"You should ask her to be your girlfriend once we finish our quest."

I felt my face heat up. I quickly opened the door and led her out of my room and into the hallway.

"Do you need directions, or are you fine?"

She nodded. "I should probably go see Impa. She said earlier that she was guarding the courtyard tonight."

I gave her directions to the courtyard. Before she left, she spoke.

"I was serious, by the way. You should really ask Maria to be your girlfriend when we come back. You two like each other a lot, so much that even I can tell. Don't let a relationship like that go." With that, she left.

I closed my door and sighed. I changed into pajamas and curled into my bed.

'Should I take her advice?' I wondered. 'I mean...how would that relationship even work? As far as I know, royalty aren't supposed to date commoners...but then again, my mother did.' I let out a puff of air and rolled over.

'Maybe I should take her advice...it could turn out for the better. But, should I talk to Grandfather about it, first? What would he even think?'

I rolled oc0ver again, this time, stuffing my face into a pillow. 'Quit over-thinking it, Liam. You like her, Sapphire says she likes you. So, why not?'

...Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night, due to these thoughts.

*author's note* yep! sorry about another filler, but next chapter will hopefully not be one! anyway, please read the authors note above the chapter if you haven't! anyway, until next time, ¡adios!


	19. Chapter 19

*author's note* so, the most popular vote for the fairy's design was white hair and green eyes. thanks to all who voted because you helped me pick which one I should use :D anyway...so...I only got two questions for the character interview. Come on, people! Ask Sapphire, Liam, Rico, Link, and Impa any question you want! You can ask more than one as well. I would like at least ten questions so ask away! The deadline is chapter 20, so once chapter 20 is up, that is your last chance to ask questions. Please ask questions, people, because two questions isnt enough for a character interview. gracias.

*Sapphire's P.O.V.*

The week of preparement flew by fast, but every day that went by, something just felt more wrong with each day. I didn't think that it was anything at the castle, but it just felt...weird.

Anyway, today was the day before Prince Liam and I were supposed to start our quest. It was actually almost supper time. The sword lessons with Ambrose and Ezekius were more entertaining than useful. Don't get me wrong, I still learned a few things, but Father is definetely a better teacher than those two. I mainly just built up more stamina and muscle, and learned how to foght against right-handed people. The time I spent with Impa learning a ton of different things was fun. She helped me become better at stealth mainly, but I also learned a few things about healing, new tips at swordplay, and a bit of fist-fighting. I also did some archery with her, which I'm basically a natural at.

I was also going to recieve my tunic today after supper. The seamstresses had worked all week on it to make sure it was durable for such a journey as the one I was about to go on.

Right now, I was sitting in my room and looking out the window at Hyrule Field. The sun was halfway set and the sky was a deep orange. It almost made me feel sad. I started to think about what my new responsibility would be. Even though I knew I didn't have much of a clue of what was to come, I knew enough from Father's story to know that I was going to be in on something I wouldn't forget.

I then started to think about everything that had happened to me over the week and a half. I learned about the identity of my mother, I found out I had a twin, I was blessed with the Triforce of Courage, I was supposed to seal Ganondorf away again...

I held the sapphire stone on the necklace Rico gave me in my left hand. 'And Rico kissed me,' I thought. I still remembered that very well. I started to wonder what would happen between us once this whole ordeal was over.

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. Becky peeked her head in and told me supper was ready. I followed her to the dining room. On the way there, something in the back of my head was bugging me. Something didn't feel right. I sat down beside Prince Liam, since ot was something I had done every time we ate, when we arrived. I saw Anastasia, who was sitting across from me, giving me an evil look. Ever since that incident early in the week, I've been avoiding her and she hasn't exactly liked that too much. She did get me cornered once to demand to tell her what I meant, but let's just say that I don't like being cornered and I sort of kicked her shins to escape. I did regret doing that, but she does scare me, so...

Since people were still being seated, I started to pick at the skin around my fingernails out of habit and boredom. I also started biting my lip. That little annoyance in the back of my head was getting worse. It felt like something bad was going to happen.

'Could it be because I'm basically going to save Hyrule?' I wondered.

"Is something bothering you?" Prince Liam asked, surprising me. I jolted in my seat, then let out a breath of relief.

"Oh, Din, you scared me. But, um..." I leaned closer to him. "Something doesn't feel right. I don't know if it's because of what we are going to do starting tomorrow or if it's something else, but something is just...off," I whispered.

"Yeah, I feel it too," he whispered back. "But I'm sure it's nothing but nerves."

I nodded. "Okay."

When supper was served, the feeling got worse. I was beginning to think that wasn't nerves. As I chewed on a peice of steak, I looked around the room for anything strange. But everything looked the same as it had the days before.

Then, the king stood up and hit his fork against his glass. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to ma-"

Suddenly, screams filled the room as an arrow came out of nowhere and flew straight into Grandfather's head. He stood there for a moment in shock and touched his now bleeding forehead before falling to the ground. My first response was just sitting there, not believing what just happened, until Prince Liam jerked me out of the chair and under the table as another arrow wizzed by where we were both just sitting.

"Someone poked a hole into the wall opposite of where Grandfather was sitting," he said quickly. "I noticed that right after he was...do you believe that just happened?"

I shook my head, eyes wide.

"Well, it did, and I'm going after whoever it was." He lifted up the tablecloth and peeked out. Before he took a chance to run, I said, "I'm coming with you."

He shrugged. "Fine." Then he ran out from under the table with me right on his heels. Once out of the dining room, he took a right and entered a room I had never been in before. It was dark, with the light from the candles in the hallway and a window being the only light source. There was also a small hole in the wall. Prince Liam walked to it and peeked through.

"I was right. Someone did poke a hole here. They must've used this to shoot that arrow at Grandfather."

I looked over and saw the window on the opposite side of the room that turned out to be broken. I walked over to it and peeked out. "Whoever it was escaped through this window."

He sighed. "Joy. Now how are we supposed to find out who did this?"

I stared out the window, seeing that the sun had dissapeared from sight and the dusk was starting to fade.. "I'm just wondering how they got out."

"Sapphire, we're on the first floor, so whoever it was didn't have a hard time jumping out."

"But...there are hedges placed against the wall, then there's the moat...the hedges are pretty thick, so it would be very hard to jump straight into the moat without hitting and damaging the hedges."

"What?" He looked out the window. "You're right. Now that I think about it..." He stretched out the window and looked up. "But there's no sign of anyone climbing the outside wall. And since it really is next to impossible to jump into the moat without hitting the hedges...that must mean..."

"They're still in the castle," I muttered.

We ran out of the room and searched for the criminal. We got our first clue when we saw a bunch of guards laying in the hallway, a giant pool of blood underneath them. I covered my mouth with a loud gasp and stared in shock. Prince Liam started to step through the mess and looked back at me.

"Come on, we've got to catch them! Don't let the sight of this scare you."

I nodded and followed him cautiously. Once we were through, we started running again until we were outside in the courtyard. It was dark now, with a few stars in the sky. Suddenly, we heard swords clanging. I ran towards the sound. I saw Ambrose fighting a figure in a black cloak. They were both fighting furiously, until the cloaked figure stabbed Ambrose through the stomach with an arrow. He clutched his stomach and fell to the ground. Prince Liam growled and tackled the figure, pinning him to the ground.

"Was it you?" He shouted. "Was it you who killed Grandfather?"

The figure laughed menacingly. He flinged the prince off like he was some kind of ragdoll. He rolled on the ground where he landed, falling unconcious. I gapsed slightly and glared at the figure as he laughed again, standing up and walking towards me.

"My, my, aren't you a pretty little thing," he said. His voice was almost sickening to listen to. I backed up slowly as he came closer. "You actually look a bit familiar...anyway," he leaned foward into my face. I saw some of his hair lean out of his hood. It was a pure white color. His skin was also very pale, almost matching his hair. I heard him make a grunting noise, like he was smirking or something.

"Well," he said, "aren't you going to say anything, my dear? Or should I introduce myself first?" He stood straight up and started to walk around me slowly. The guy was eztremely creepy.

"If you're not going to say anything, then allow me to introduce myself." He grabbed my shoulders from behind. I jolted and froze, hoping he would go away.

"I am Lord Ghirahim," he whispered into my ear, sending shivers down my spine. "But, because you are so lovely, you can just call me Ghirahim." Suddenly, something warm and wet traced the edge of my ear. I squealed and jerked away from Ghirahim, running to pick up Ambrose's sword. I didn't like this guy, and I especially did not like the fact that he just licked my ear. Ghirahim chuckled and took off his hood. He had dark brown eyes that were almost black. I also noticed that he only had one ear with a large diamond earring attached to it.

"Oh, darling, do you honestly want to fight me? You saw what happened to him, didn't you? I don't want to do something like that to such a beautiful specimen like you."

I narrowed my eyes. "I'm not your darling, so don't call me that."

"So you do talk? How wonderful. Well, why don't you tell me your name, then?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Why should you care what my name is?"

He walked towards me, slowly taking off his black cloak and revealing his skin-tight white body suit with a yellow belt and diamonds cut out on the legs and chest. "Well, I told you mine, didn't I?" He leaned back in my face. "It's only fair."

I swung the sword, but he jumped out of the way before I managed to hit him.

Ghirahim frowned. "Tsk, tsk. You are a feisty one. But that's perfectly fine by me." He gave a sickening smirk. "I like them feisty." He snapped and a sword materialized out of nowhere.

"You're sick," I muttered and picked up the sheild Ambrose was using.

"I know. That's what makes me...well, me." He laughed and lunged at me with his sword pointed straight at me. I blocked the attack with my shield and thrusted my sword to hopefully unbalance him. But he blocked my attack as well. He jumped backwards and walked back towards me very slowly.

"It seems that you have had some kind of sword training in your life. Very surprising for a girl like you."

"You don't know anything about me," I retorted.

"You're right, I don't." He swung his sword at me and I blocked it. "But...not yet, anyway." He swung again, this time in a different direction. He did an upwards swing. I quickly did a backflip to dodge, but that ended up being a mistake. Once I landed, he pushed me against a wall with his arm to my neck. I struggled against him the best I could, but he was very strong.

"Stuck, are we?" Ghirahim smirked. "Allow me to assist you, my dear." He drug out the 'dear' as his smirk grew into a sinister smile. He threw me up in the air and I stayed suspended instead of falling. I struggled again, but this time it was against an unknown force. Suddenly, Ghirahim appeared beside me and levatated there. He stared into my eyes. I tried to look away, but I could barely even move against whatever force was keeping me up here.

"Oh, now I know why you look so familiar! You look like someone that let's say I...eh, knew a long, long time ago. He was such a pain in the butt, always getting in the way of my plans and distracting me from my goal. What a nuisance that he actually won in the end. Now that I am looking closer at you, it's strange how you almost look just like him. Except..." He ran his fingers through my hair. "Your hair is lighter, your eyes are a bit darker...but the facial features are strikingly similar." Ghirahim frowned some. "Your sword skills are also very similar. Are you perhaps...his descendent? Oh...now what was his name...what was that sky child's name?" He muttered to himself.

"Sapphire! Liam!" I heard Impa call from a distance. Ghirahim's head snapped towards the direction it came from. "Ugh. It looks like I need to take my leave. My new master will probably want to see me anyway." He looked back down at me. "Well, until next time, my dear Sapphire..." He dissapeared. More shivers went down my spine after he said my name. I never wanted him to say it again.

The next thing I knew, I was falling. I hit the ground hard. Luckily, since I was in the courtyard, it was the grass I landed on and not anything else. I sat up and let go of the sword and shield. Impa came through where Prince Liam and I were on a big white horse. She had a large bag on the back of it.

"Come on, we need to get out of here. I'm taking you and Liam to Kakariko."

I just nodded, still completely disturbed at what happened over the previous few minutes. Impa picked up the still unconcious prince and put him on the horse after I sat on the saddle. We rushed out of the castle and through Castle Town. While racing out, I saw Maria sitting by the fountain, who had probably waiting for Prince Liam to visit her.

*later, now in Kakariko*

I climbed off the horse after Impa. Prince Liam had woken up on the way here and was a bit dazed. I waited for everyone to get off and for Impa to get the large bag off the horse.

"Do you think Link will let us stay at his house?" Impa half asked me and half muttered to herself.

I raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't he?" I asked back. Impa shrugged. "Just lead us there."

I nodded and walked towards my house and opened the door. I peeked in and saw no one in the room. I walked in and told the other two to wait here in living room. "I'll go wake Father and Impaz," I whispered. I quietly walked through the house and went to Father's room first, since it was the closest. Once I reached for the doorknob, the door flew open and I saw Father standing there with a sword, ready to strike at any second. His eyes widened when he saw that it was me.

"Sapphire?" Father relaxed his stance. "Don't scare me like that! I thought you were an intruder. What are you doing here, anyway?"

I shrugged. "Um, I will explain in a minute...but I need to wake Impaz up. Oh, and Impa and the prince are also here."

He rubbed one of his eyes tiredly. "Why? Did something bad happen?"

I nodded grimly. "Father, something really bad happened. But I need to wake up Impaz."

"Okay, okay," he said while yawning. "Where are the others?"

"In the living room," I answered. He nodded and walked towards the living room.

After waking up Impaz and walking with her to the living room, I sat down in a chair.

"So, what happened?" Father asked, obviously about to fall asleep again. If the situation wasn't bad, I would've laughed a bit. Let's just say Father loves his sleep.

Impa sighed. "King Daphnes has been assassinated."

Impaz frowned and Father jolted out of his seat. "What? By who?"

"I don't know."

Father growled. "It might be Ganondorf's doing. This sounds way too much like him. It's something he would do."

"But Father," I started. "Me and Prince Liam chased after someone who could've done it."

"Who?"

I shuddered. "Some creep named Ghirahim. He wasn't afraid to say what was on his mind. Well, he didn't actually say he killed the king, but I think he did. I mean, he killed Ambrose with an arrow, and King Da - er, um...Grandfather was killed with an arrow...so...yeah."

Father raised an eyebrow. "Ambrose is dead, too?"

Prince Liam nodded. "We saw it happen with our own eyes. Wait...do you know Ambrose?"

Father nodded. "Yeah...have you forgotten that I had trained to be a knight at the castle before the two of you were born? Anyway, tell me more about this...Ghirahim."

I shook my head. "He...he's creepy. I don't like him at all." I told them everything that happened, even the part where he licked my ear.

A disgusted look crawled across Father's face, as well as everyone else. "He'd better hope he never comes across me," Father muttered. "He is a sick man. Listen, Sapphire, if you come across him again, you better teach him not to mess with you like that. Who knows what kind of...perversions he has."

Impaz sighed. "It just sounds like he's trying to break your sanity, dear. So I would be extra careful around him."

Impa spoke up. "I have a feeling he could be working under Ganondorf. According to you, he mentioned he has a master."

"Something tells me that he's not just working for his 'master', Prince Liam said. "You said something about him saying you looked like someone that got in his way a long time ago. He could be out for revenge."

"But why would he be out for revenge if he didn't even figure it out until after he attacked me?" I asked.

"Maybe he had been searching for someone like that guy from his past. And when he saw you, it probably clicked. So I don't think he'll just be attacking you at his 'master's' orders."

Father let out a breath. "He has a point. Well, we should finish this conversation in the morning. As bad as the situation is, we all need sleep." With that, he stood up and left towards his room. Impaz shook her head.

"That man is always thinking about sleep when it's night time. Anyway, I'll get a couple of cots set up. Sapphire, come help me please."

As I helped Impaz, I kept thinking about my disturbing encounter with Ghirahim. I wondered if Prince Liam was right about him. Could he be after me just for revenge?

*author's note* ah, that was an intense chapter, wasn't it? So, anyway, ask questions for the character interview please!

if you get this reference, you get to be in my book of awesome people.

"oh, hey, look, it's debby."

"*sigh* my name is not debby. It's ghirahim. I prefer to be indulged in my full title: lord ghirahim."

"really? I kinda like deb-"

"IT'S NOT DEBBY!

and until next time, ¡adios!


End file.
